Knight Natsuki
by ookami desu
Summary: Since birth, Natsuki's mom has told everyone that Natsuki is a boy, solely to inherit and follow her father's legacy. But lying is considered treason, and treason is punishable by death. How will Natsuki overcome all of life's trials? ShizNat!
1. Prologue

Hello readers! I am working on another ShizNat fanfiction piece. This one is set in the old medieval times with knights and princesses and whatnot. Anyway, I lost inspiration to write "For Now" so I probably won't be updating that soon.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Mai Hime or characters... just the lame old plot.

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Chapter 1: PROLOGUE

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"Push, Saeko-sama! Just one last push!" the maid yelled as her mistress gave one last strangled cry.

The sound of a crying baby is heard over heavy breathing. The mother watched through dazed eyes as her offspring was gently washed and wrapped up in a towel.

"Saeko-sama…" the maid hesitated as she brought the baby over to her mother.

"Announce that it's a boy," the mistress ordered.

"But—" the maid started, not wanting to lie to the master of the house.

"Announce that my baby is a boy. My husband must believe that his heir is a boy."

"Saeko-sama," the maid began pleadingly. "I understand that it must be hard for you, but I cannot lie to the master!"

"You must understand, Riku. This is for the benefit of the family. My husband is going to war soon and only god knows how long it'll take for him to get back, if he gets back. This house needs a proper heir. Without another boy in the family, no one can succeed in my husband's place. And without a successor, we will not survive. Do you understand me?" the mistress reasoned. "This is for the best."

"Y-Yes, Saeko-sama," the maid relented with a solemn expression upon her face.

No longer than three seconds later, Akio Kuga came rushing into the room, delighted to see his newborn baby. He rushed over to his wife's side and immediately took a look at the peaceful face of his child.

"Congratulations sir. It's a boy…" Riku announced.

"By the gods! My son." Akio started, taking the baby delicately into his arms, "My heir, you shall inherit everything that is mine, son! And you shall carry the name Natsuki!"

"Dear," the mistress weakly called out.

"Yes, my love?" he replied, glancing down at his fatigue wife.

"You'll wake him with all the yelling," she replied, smiling. Slowly, she reached out and stroked the baby's cheek, hoping that she did the right thing in lying to her husband. Natsuki's going to lead a hard life, but she'll become strong. And she will inherit everything that her husband worked for. The Kuga legacy will not fall within her generation. She will not let that happen.

"Thank you, my love," Akio kissed Saeko's sweaty forehead. "Thank you for delivering this wonderful gift to me. Our heir shall continue my legacy…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Ten years later…_

"Natsuki-sama! Natsuki-sama!"

Two maids were chasing after a ten year old child around the archery range, trying to clean their young master of the dirt that has attached itself to her expensive clothing.

"Please stop, Natuski-sama! We must clean you up for tonight's dinner party!" they yelled in unison.

Finally, the child stopped in her tracks and turned to the maids. "I don't want to attend the party."

"But you must! Your father will be back tonight for it as well, to celebrate our victory after eight long years of war."

Putting on a glare directed towards the maids, Natsuki growled out the words, "I will talk to mother."

A loud and rapid knock disturbed Saeko from her reading in the afternoon sun. Sighing slightly to herself, she motioned for her maid to open the door. A very displeased blunette child strides quickly over to her mother, stopping about two feet away for a proper greeting.

"Mother," Natsuki gave her mother a slight bow, "do I really have to attend that party tonight? I don't want to!"

"Yes, dear. Your father will be back for it as well. And I'm sure he will be proud to find that you will follow in his footsteps to be a knight like him."

"Then, I will wash up for the occasion," the child begrudging uttered.

"Natsuki," her emerald eyes gazed into her child's, trying to convey information without actually speaking.

"I understand, mother," Natsuki replied, seemingly understanding what her mother wanted to say. _I will be careful in the baths. I know I mustn't let anyone find out that I am a girl._

Three hours later, when the sun has begun to set, causing the sky to turn a beautiful hue of red and orange, the party has commenced. Guests arrived from all over the country to the Kuga household to meet the young master and congratulate Sir Akio for the victory.

Natsuki wanders around the large room, hoping to find someone that she can interact with. But so far, the only people she has met are her mother's friends. As she was about to retire back to her mother's side, she suddenly spotted another kid in the crowd. Making her way to said person, she stopped to find violet eyes gazing back at her.

"Welcome to the Kuga household. My name is Kuga Natsuki, and I am the young master of this house. Who might you be?" she introduced herself.

"T-Tokiha Mai," she replied, dipping her head downwards followed by a curtsy.

"I'm glad I'm not the only kid here. I was starting to get really bored," the blunette started. "Tokiha-san, let's go out into the garden for a breather."

"O-Okay," the redhead replied.

Natsuki led her new friend out into the back of the house, where a small garden with a koi pond existed. Taking a seat on a rock by the edge of the pond, Natsuki motioned for Mai to take a seat next to her. Glancing at the redhead briefly, the blunette noticed that the she looked really nervous.

"Why are you nervous?" she bluntly asked. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"W-Well, that's because you are Kuga Natsuki-sama. I heard about you from my friend Tate," she replied, finally mustering the courage to look into emerald orbs. "But you seem a lot friendlier than he described."

"Hm? What'd he say about me?" she asked, completely curious.

"He goes to the same school you go to, the one that trains you to become a top-ranked knight. You excel in your studies, no matter what the subject is, and also in combat. He also said that you weren't very social and that you don't have any friends. I think he described you as a lone wolf."

"How did you meet Tate-san?"

"He's my fiancé," Mai replied.

"I wonder," Natsuki turned her gaze up into the sky. "If I beat him in grades and combat, will you consider being my fiancée?"

Mai gave a surprised yell, standing up from the rock that she was sitting on earlier. She made a few motions with her lips to speak but no words were able to escape. Finally, she straightened up and closed her eyes, as if composing herself. Natsuki watched her new friend in amusement, and waited patiently for Mai to say what she wanted to say.

"Are you expressing interest in me, Kuga-sama? I am just the child of a lowly ranked and unknown knight," she replied.

"So why do you think Tate-san suits you more than me?" the blunette asked, standing up to face Mai.

"I-It's not that… it's just that… Tate and I… we're…"

Mai was at a loss for words. It wasn't that she thought that Tate was a better choice to be her husband. She just never, in a million years, thought that THE Kuga Natsuki would even notice that she was alive; nevertheless, express an interest in her.

A small chuckle erupted from Natsuki's throat as she watched the redhead's expression change when she was deep in thought. "Relax, Mai-san. I will not steal you away against your will. I was just joking earlier."

After taking a look at the night sky, she turned her head and smiled. "Shall we get back inside, Lady Tokiha Mai?"

Receiving an affirmative nod from the redhead, the two made their way back into the loud and noisy room. Natsuki noticed that several of the people she met earlier have already left and decided to leave Mai in the care of her parents before scouting for her own mom. When she finally spotted the older woman, she quickly made her way over because of the solemn expression on her mother's face.

"Mother, what's wrong?" Natsuki immediately asked.

"It's getting late, and yet, your father has not returned. What is taking him so long?"

Saeko's brows were furrowed as concern took over her features. Her husband was supposed to be back already, but he has not walked through the Kuga's mansion's gates yet. She would know if he did!

The sound a horse's cry was heard in the distance. Then, multiple footsteps came stomping through the premise, revealing about five or six men in uniform. As soon as they spotted the mistress of the house, they landed on their knees and greeted her, "Lady Kuga!"

"What is it? Where is my husband?" Saeko questioned the men.

One of them stepped up and held the mistress's gaze, revealing through his eyes that he had bad news. The older blunette prepared herself for the worse, then nodded for him to report what he needed to report.

"Sir Kuga was a noble man and he fought valiantly at the Battle of Aeries. Regrettably, on the night that he and his troops were to report home, there was an ambush. Although, the war has been won, Sir Kuga could not make it tonight to celebrate with us. I'm sure he would have loved to see young Kuga before he went…"

"Ar-Are you telling me, that my husband died in an ambush?" Saeko slowly asked.

"Yes ma'am. My condolences," the uniformed man said. Then he turned his attention to the younger blunette and said, "Become a valiant knight like your father. He is proud of you."

And with that, the men left as quickly as they come. The two Kuga's stayed completely still, not knowing what to do. About a million things ran through Saeko's head, but one thing remained prominent. _My dear Akio, all these years without you, and now I cannot even say a proper goodbye. You are cruel to leave Natsuki and me… so cruel…_

_Father… they told me you were brave… they told me that I needed to follow in your footsteps and become a man like you… Don't worry, dad. I will continue this legacy, your legacy… no matter what. But I wished you were able to come back to see my accomplishments. I'm the best at school right now… all for you…_

The party died immediately after that, and all the guests returned home to allow the Kuga's to grieve for their loss. Before she left, Mai glanced over at the younger blunette. As she stared into those emerald orbs, the glint of youthful excitement was completely gone. And it was replaced by sadness and grief.

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Ah, thank you for reading. Please leave me a review! It motivates me to write more... or faster... or even at all. Thank you!


	2. Back to School

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Mai Hime or characters... I make no monetary profit in any way either...

Yay for Natsuki as a knight!

**A/N:** I wanted to clarify that although I kept referring to Natsuki as a female, since that is her real gender, everyone in the story except Saeko thinks she's a boy. Would it be easier if I referred to Natsuki as a "he"?

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Chapter 2: Back to School

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Standing near the door of her mother's chambers, Natsuki gave her mother an apologetic glance before turning to look out the window. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, indicating that it was midday. She gave a small sigh as she turned her head back to face her mother.

"Mother, I will have to return to the castle soon," the child murmured. "My studies for knighthood await me and I mustn't disappoint my lord by being late."

"I understand, my child. I will miss you. Your father is proud of your accomplishments," Saeko replied. "He watches you with a smile upon his lips." _Oh, Akio. It has only been days since I've been notified of your death. I knew Natsuki could not stay and comfort me forever, but I am selfish and I wish she could stay._

"Of course, mother. Please take good care of yourself in my absence," the younger blunette left to prepare for her departure back to the castle. _Father, I will become a great and valiant knight like you some day. And on that day, mother will stop smiling that dead smile since learning of your death…_

"Sakomizu-san, it is time we left," the young master announced to her escort. "I mustn't be late."

"Yes, young master. The preparations are ready. Duran is waiting outside," the servant replied. "Will the mistress be seeing you off?"

"No, I have already informed mother. Thank you."

Natsuki briskly left the mansion and walked up to her horse, a deep frown settled upon her lips. _I feel bad leaving mother all alone right now. She will have to deal with losing father all by herself. Somehow, I feel like I am abandoning her in a time of need._

Mounting her horse, Duran, Natsuki waited for Sakomizu to do the same. When the servant was ready, Natsuki nudged the side of the horse and began her journey back to the place where she was a page. _Back to study mode. Back to learning literature and weaponry._

As Natsuki rode her way back to the castle, her memory wanders to back to the events that have happened in the few days between the party and now. When she learned of her father's death, she was devastated that the one person she admired suddenly disappeared. When she tried to comfort her mother, the older woman would give a gentle, yet dead smile, and say to her, _'Natsuki, do not worry about me. Focus on becoming a great knight like your father and make him proud. That is all I ask of you.'_

She couldn't stop the nagging pain that resided in her chest, no matter what she did to distract herself. She practiced her aim in archery and fighting with a sword. She groomed her horse in the stables and rode him for miles and miles at top speed. She even sought for companionship with one Tokiha Mai.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Tokiha Mai walked into the lobby of her home due to her father's beckon. When she entered the large room, she was faced with the back of a blue-haired boy. Confusion etched into her features as she approached her father's side._

"_Father," the redhead started._

"_Ah, Mai! Good timing, you have a guest," her father gestured towards the boy, who at that same moment, turned to face Sir Tokiha. "Kuga Natsuki has come to request your company."_

"_How do you do, milady?" Natsuki smiled as she gave a slight bow in Mai's direction._

"_Well, I will leave you two kids alone. Don't play too rough with my daughter, Mr. Kuga."_

"_Thank you, Sir Tokiha."_

_When the knight has left, Natsuki turned her attention back to her redheaded friend. Taking a step forward, she noticed surprise swarming in violet orbs._

"_Surprised to see me, I take it," Natsuki said playfully. "Would you like to go out with me?"_

"_K-Kuga-sama! I-I have already been promised to Yuuichi Tate," she replied with wide-eyes._

_The blunette let out a chuckle, "Do not misunderstand me. I am requesting to spend time with you as a friend. I promise there is no ulterior motive."_

"_Kuga-sama—"_

"_Natsuki is fine," the blunette cut in. "When we are alone, there is no need for formalities. Call me Natsuki."_

"_Natsuki-san—"_

"_Natsuki."_

"_Natsuki, then call me Mai. What do you have in mind?"_

"_I was thinking of going for a ride. I brought my horse with me. He is currently snacking away in your stable."_

"_I can't ride horses," Mai nervously responded._

"_Why not?" Natsuki cocked her head to the side. When Mai did not answer, Natsuki prodded her again with the same question. "Why not?"_

"_You're going to laugh at me," mumbled Mai._

"_No, I won't. Tell me."_

"_Yes, you will. Just like all the other boys. Even Tate…"_

"_Mai," Natsuki gently began, "I promise I won't laugh."_

_Taking in a deep breath, Mai looked into emerald orbs filled with sincerity. "When I was younger, I tried riding a horse because some boys were taunting me about how girls can't do that kind of thing. I got really angry and tried to prove them wrong. When I sat down at the saddle and kicked the side of the horse, it started running really fast. I lost balance and fell off…"_

_When Mai looked up, she found a grin on the blunette's face and immediately blushed a bright red color. "You're going to laugh, aren't you?"_

"_Nope," Natsuki replied._

"_Go ahead and laugh!" Mai said, louder in volume this time. "I kno—"_

"_Let's go, Mai," Natsuki said as she pushed Mai towards the stables._

_When Mai arrived at the stables, she watched Natsuki gather her horse over. It was a beautiful white horse, still in its developing stages. Since it wasn't full-grown yet, that made it easier for the children to saddle him up and mount onto his back for a ride._

_Extending her hand to the redhead, Natsuki said, "Come on. I'll help you get on."_

"_Oh no! I absolutely refuse. No. Nope. I'm not going to—"_

"_Trust me, Mai," Natsuki said, delicately taking hold of Mai's hand. "Up you go…"_

_And with that, Natsuki boosted Mai onto Duran before mounting herself onto her horse's back. The blunette gave the horse a few soothing pets before taking control of the reigns in one hand, and looping an arm around Mai with the other._

"_N-N-Natsuki," Mai stuttered as she felt an arm holding her waist protectively._

"_Relax. Duran is going to go slowly, at a walking pace. And I'll make sure you don't fall off," Natsuki informed. "Or is it my arm around your waist that is bothering you?"_

"_N-No, you're fine," Mai blushed, feeling oddly safe at the moment._

"_Alright," Natsuki nudged Duran's side softly. "We're going to get rid of your fear of riding horses now. Be ready."_

_Duran trotted around the stable's ground at a walking pace, earning a grin from Mai as her fear was starting to alleviate. Duran made some snorting noises, indicating that he was slightly annoyed at the fact that he could not run like he wanted to. Natsuki took notice of this and patted his neck apologetically._

"_Shall we go a bit faster, then?" Natsuki asked Mai when she saw that the redhead was no longer frightened._

_However, even though she asked, she did not wait for an answer from the other girl. She gave Duran another light nudge to his side and he happily started moving at a faster pace, slowly speeding up to a run._

"_Natsuki!" Mai yelled, fear evident in her voice._

"_Relax," the blunette whispered her into ear. "I've got everything under control. You won't fall, I promise."_

_The arm around Mai's waist tightened a little, pulling the redhead's back to press against the blunette's chest. It seemed the only person who noticed was Mai, as she gave another blush and completely forgot about the fact that the horse was running at a speed that was not within her comfort level._

_Natsuki let out a soft chuckle before speaking, "See? Nothing to fear, right?"_

_Looking up into the sky, Natsuki noticed that the sun was starting to set. She slowed Duran down to a walking pace, and eventually stopped in front of the stable doors. Natsuki jumped off the horse gracefully before helping her redheaded friend down slowly._

"_How was that?" Natsuki asked._

"_It was… not scary with you, Natsuki," Mai smiled shyly._

_The blunette smiled, "Good. I have to go back to the castle tomorrow to resume my page studies. The next time the count allows me to return home, we'll go for a ride again, okay?"_

_As Mai nodded her head, Natsuki mounted back onto Duran. "Good. I have to get going before the sun sets. Return home safely now, and I will see you when I can."_

_The redhead nodded her head again. "Goodbye, Natsuki. I will see you later then…"_

_With that, the redhead watched as Duran raced out of sight. She marveled how calm Natsuki looked as she was riding away at thrice the speed from earlier. Truly, Natsuki was amazing, Mai thought._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Back to school, huh?" Natsuki muttered to herself as the castle came into view. She turned back to see Sakomizu not too far behind from her and ordered for him to go home.

"Take care, young master. Write home every so often," he said.

Giving him a curt nod, the blunette turned back to the direction of her destination. _Back to school…_

Entering the castle, the blunette tried to escape back to her chambers immediately. But luck was not on her side, and she bumped into some of her classmates.

"Hey! It's Natsuki!" one boy cried as he and the rest flocked over to her.

"We heard about your father," one of them said. "And we're very sorry about your loss."

"Thank you, Reito-san. Thank you, everyone, but I am tired from my trip, so please excuse me," the blunette said.

She walked past the boys and continued forward until she reached a door with her name on it. When Natsuki first started out as a page, she was roomed with Reito, which pretty much made him the only guy that Natsuki would talk to of her own free will. But because of her true gender, she requested a room to herself. It was an absurd request, of course, but she was able to get it due to her family's influence. It didn't hurt that Natsuki was an excellent student, which put her in many teacher's good graces.

Sighing to herself, the blunette unconsciously clutched onto her chest as the throbbing pain in her heart would increase in intensity. _Mother… I will make father proud. If that is what you ask of me, I will do it. Father… watch over me. Watch me as I continue your legacy with honor._

_

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_

Fear not readers! I know you can't wait for Shizuru's dramatic entrance into this wonderful piece of fanfiction. It shall happen soon. *smiles*

On a side note, did you guys like the little bit of NatMai that I included?

_**Reviews **_are very much appreciated. So please do leave a comment.


	3. Meeting

**Disclaimer**: Do not own...

**A/N**: Since people have been good with remembering that Natsuki is cross-dressing as a boy in here, I decided to continue writing the story using the pronoun 'she' unless it is spoken by a character. I tried to convey that the characters all think she is a boy by the dialogue as much as possible.

**A/N2**: I made it longer, for those who requested it. But it does take me longer to update with longer chapters. So please be patient with me. Thank you, dear readers!

**Final announcement**: **EVERYONE IN THE STORY**, EXCEPT SAEKO, **THINKS THAT NATSUKI IS A BOY!**

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Chapter 3: Meeting

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_4 years later… Natsuki, age 14_

Loud shouts and incessant yelling disturbed the peace that Natsuki was enjoying from a tree branch in the mini forest by the castle's stables. Groaning slightly to herself, she lifted the book that was sitting on her face and peered down from her hawk view. From what she could see, there were about 3 or 4 men surrounding a girl around her age. Growing curious of the situation, the page sat up from her position and watched the situation unfold more intently. She watched the terrified expression of the girl as she tried to run away from the men. The way these men dressed told the blunette that they were supposed to be castle guards, but something about the scene didn't add up.

Grabbing her wooden sword that was balanced on a smaller limb of the tree, Natsuki jumped down and landed in front of the girl. It was only at that point that Natsuki noticed the other girl's clothing. Although the girl wore extravagantly beautiful clothes, they were torn and tattered. As if she had been running and falling for some time now. Fixing her gaze at the enemy in front of her and pointing her wooden sword at them, she let out a low growl.

"Leave her alone," the page uttered.

"Hah! And what can a little boy like you do?" the one in front mocked.

The older men taunted her, but she did not relent to their words. Closing her eyes, she allowed them to continue spewing useless words at her, never losing her calm. She waited for them to strike. There was no need to dive in recklessly, as that was just a stupid thing to do.

When the men realized that the kid in front of them was not moving, one of them mockingly said to the others that he will dispatch the kid in five seconds. As the man advanced towards her, she dipped low and swiped the sword at his feet, causing the man the fall. When he landed on the ground with a loud thump, she took the chance to whack him in the head as hard as she can, causing to older man to fall unconscious.

At that point, she saw some bows and arrows that were haphazardly lying on the ground a few feet from the fallen victim. She dashed toward the items and grabbed them before it could be used against her. As soon as she grabbed the quiver**(1) **full of arrows, she sped back to the girl's side. Readying her new weapon into position, she aimed at the remaining people.

"I have good aim," Natsuki said, her eyes narrowing at them.

As if to exemplify her credibility, she shot at the men, missing their face by several centimeters. When they turned around to check where the arrow landed, they found that it pierced through the body of a caterpillar perfectly, and watched the little insect wriggle frantically before going limp.

One of them let out a strangled cry as he began charging towards the page. Immediately recognizing danger, Natstuki grabbed three arrows from the quiver that girl was now holding, and shot at the charging assailant. These arrows struck his left and right thighs, and his right arm that held a short sword. He collapsed onto the floor, crying in pain.

"I missed your vital organs on purpose. This is your last warning," Natsuki threatened, grabbing three more arrows.

With that, the remaining men who were unharmed dragged their comrades out of the scene, one of them kicking and screaming. When she was sure they were out of sight, she lowered the bow and let out a sigh that she didn't even know she was holding. Turning around, she found crimson orbs beaming back at her.

The page assessed the girl in front of her in greater detail this time. Red eyes, light brown hair, and a faint smile. She wore clothes made of silk, and although it was meticulously made, the artwork was now tattered beyond repair. She held a gentle and calm aura, exuding elegance to the utmost meaning of the word itself.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" Natsuki asked, eyes searching for any injuries on the girl.

"I'm fine. Th-Thank you for saving me," she said, her voice a gentle lull.

"You're welcome. If I may suggest, please be sure to bring some bodyguards with you next time. I'm sure your mother and father would be worried about you," the blunette replied.

"Well, what about yours?" the crimson-eyed girl replied.

"I'm a page, so I learn all sorts of self-defense. Besides, my mother does not live in this castle with me. So she only knows what I tell her in letters. There is no need to tell her unnecessary things that will worry her," the blunette turned to exit the tiny forest. "I'll take you home. Where do you live?"

Following her savior out of the forest, the girl replied, "A-Ara, the west wing of the castle."

"I see," Natsuki replied. She stood outside of the stables and was about to get her horse, but noting that the girl lived in the castle as well, there was no need. However, the fact that the girl also lived in the castle peaked her interest. "By the way, my name is Kuga Natsuki. What's yours?"

"Fujino Shizuru," she replied in a low voice, looking slightly to her side as she did.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Fujino. Shall we get going then?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was her turn to help serve the food and attend to any needs that the count and his guests required tonight. She really hated playing servant, but it was required for her studies. But being the best student does sometimes have their advantages; one of them being that she only had to attend to the specific orders that the count issued. If he didn't require anything of her, all she had to do was stand behind his chair throughout the meal, which was a lot better than scrambling back and forth with food and beverage items.

When she arrived to the dining quarters, she was quickly ushered away to change into formal dress clothes. It happened from time to time when someone of high importance visits this end of the castle for dinner. The pages were never informed beforehand, but wearing the specific clothes that she was wearing now meant that if she wasn't on her best behavior, she can kiss her page studies goodbye.

_Just great… I hate doing this as is. Now I have to serve more snobby stuck-ups._

Growling very lowly to herself, she opened the doors to the dining room to find that the count and his guests were already seated. Placing a smile on her lips when she realized that it's time to put on an act of politeness and courtesy, she strode over to the head of the table, where the count was seated.

"Good evening, Count Roshen," I greeted, dipping my head downwards to show respect.

"Ah, Natsuki! Good timing. Allow me to introduce to you, the King and Queen of Windbloom!" he spoke amicably. "King Fujino Ryou and Queen Fujino Shirai."

_King Fujino? Queen Fujino? Then… the Shizuru that I met earlier today? No! That can't be. It has to be some sort of coincidence, right?_

Natsuki turned her attention to the other two people seated at the table. It was odd, because one would think that since the man was the king, he would sit at the head of the table. Instead, he sat to the right of the count. Kneeling before the king and queen, Natsuki greeted them.

"Good evening, your majesty, your highness. It is my pleasure to serve you tonight," she said.

The king gave a jolly laugh before allowing Natsuki to stand again. "So this is the best page of this year?"

"Yes, Natsuki is indeed exceptional," the count replied. "He is at the top of his class in literature studies and combat. His knowledge of weaponry is quite thorough. And he is the best archer I have seen in all my years of teaching."

"Is that so?" the king quirked an eyebrow at the boy. "Have you heard about the tournament, young page?"

"No, I haven't, your majesty," Natsuki replied.

"An archery tournament will be held one week from today. Many noblemen will be coming, and they will be bringing their daughters along. Young pages such as yourself shall seek the favor of these fine young girls by trying to win the archery tournament. I look forward to seeing where you place there," the king spoke, a hint of challenge in his voice. "I heard that Kanzaki's boy is quite the archer as well."

"Thank you, your majesty, but I do not think I will participate in the tournament."

"Ara, why not?" the queen spoke.

"May I be blunt, your highness?"

"Please do."

"Because participating in the tournament is unnecessary. I fail to see how that would help the kingdom at all, besides entertainment for a few hours."

"That is where you are wrong, young page. We can find great archers from this tournament," King Fujino said. "Displaying your skill to the noblemen allows them to choose whether or not you are fit to be a squire in the future."

"Yes, your majesty. But I think my current status is enough for that," the blunette replied, unintentionally boasting.

As the king was about to reply, the sound of the doors opening was heard, followed by light footsteps.

"Ara, pardon my lateness," a soft voice spoke. "I seemed to have gotten lost."

"My apologies, princess. Next time you would like to leave the dining mess, please allow our page, Kuga Natsuki, to escort you," the count replied. Then, he turned to the blunette and introduced the newcomer, "Kuga, this is Princess Fujino Shizuru."

_Princess… Fujino… Shizuru? She was the princess!_

Putting aside her shock as much as possible, she walked over to the princess and kneeled down in front of her before she spoke, "Good evening, princess. My name is Kuga Natsuki and I will be serving you tonight. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you."

"Ara, in that case. Can you accompany me to a restroom? I've gotten lost trying to find it, to no avail," she replied.

"Of course, princess," the blunette replied, opening the door to the hallway.

As soon as the door was close, the blunette instructed to turn left, heading away from the page's quarters and toward the guest quarters. Midway through the hallway, the princess suddenly stopped walking and turned around to face the page.

"Are you shocked, Natsuki-kun?" the princess spoke, voice holding a hint of sadness.

"I am, princess. Please forgive my rudeness earlier today," the blunette replied, crouching down to a one-legged kneel.

"Please don't kneel in front of me, Natsuki-kun…" the princess begged.

Looking up, Natsuki saw that tears were threatening to fall from the princess's eyes. She immediately stood up from her position and took a step towards the crimson-eyed girl.

"Why do you cry, princess?" Natsuki whispered gently.

Instead of replying, the princess took the final step forward and closed the gap between the two, embracing a shocked blue haired page. The princess tightened her grip around the page when she noticed that her knight has not reciprocated the action.

"Hold me," she requested.

"I-Is that okay? A-Aren't I going to get expelled for that?" the page thought aloud.

"Please hold me, Natsuki," the princess repeated.

Sighing to herself, the page wrapped her arms around the princess. "Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"I will be okay in a bit, my knight. So please, just hold me for now," she spoke into the page's chest. "I'll be okay soon."

_She must still be in shock from what happened this afternoon. No doubt seeing me again didn't help her in attempting to forget what happened with those supposed guards. I feel kind of bad for her. The people who were supposed to be protecting her turned out to be the people who were harming her. She's going to have some trouble trusting others in the future. From the looks of it, I don't think she's told anyone either. Though, I suppose it's still too early to say._

Not knowing what else to do, the blunette's hand began to idly rub circles on the princess's back. After a few minutes, Shizuru pull away from her knight's embrace and began walking forward. Natsuki was two steps behind the brunette, instructing her towards her destination.

By the time the two returned to the dining mess, half an hour has passed. The king and queen good-naturedly joke that the two have gotten lost together, which the count laughed at and dismissed quickly, citing that Natsuki was very good with directions. Very quickly, the Fujinos found their way back to the topic of the archery tournament.

"Ara, it's a shame that you don't plan on joining, Natsuki. I'd really like to see your archery skills," the queen stated.

"Natsuki-kun is not joining the tournament?" Shizuru asked, turning her attention to said person. "Why not?"

The king delivered an overdramatic sigh before answering, "Because he thinks it's useless and the only point to it is to entertain us."

"Ara, I see," the princess replied. "Natsuki-kun, why don't you join the archery tournament to try to win my favor? If you win, I can convince papa to give you a reward."

The king gave a hearty laugh and turned to Natsuki, "How about it, boy? Win my daughter's favor and I'll reward you with anything you want. Just name it."

Natsuki sighed to herself inwardly. _I really should have just kept my mouth shut when they were talking about this earlier. Why must they force me to join? Judging by the count's facial features, I'm going to get a bit of scolding if I don't accept this offer. I suppose this makes sense since the princess specifically asked me to win her favor._

Glancing over at the brunette, Natsuki found she was pleading for her to accept. No words or body language was exchanged that the adults saw, but Natsuki knew. Those quivering rubies told it all.

"I accept, your majesty."

"Good good! Now, we must get going. Nightfall does not wait for anyone, including me," the king announced as he stood.

The queen and princess followed suit, thanking the count for his hospitality. As the three were about to exit, the count ordered Natsuki to accompany the guests back to their side of the castle, to ensure that everyone returns safely. Of course, there really was no need for such a measure. The real reason was because the count thought the Fujino family enjoyed the page's company, so he sent the boy along for entertainment purposes.

When they arrived to the royal court, it was time for the king and queen to walk a different path than the princess. The princess was to return to her chambers to rest, while the king and queen discuss affairs of the state. When the two children were left alone to walk back to the princess's quarters, Natsuki spoke up.

"Your majesty and your highness do not know what happen in the forest today, do they?"

"Ara, as Natsuki suggested earlier today. There is no need to burden them with unnecessary information," she said, as she continued to walk two steps in front of the page.

"That's not the same. I am a measly little page, but you are _the _princess of Windbloom. I am easily replaceable, but _you _are not. You have to take extra measures for protection." Natsuki voiced out.

"Ara, but today, those 'extra measures of protection' tried to abduct me. If it wasn't for you, I could have been dead before anyone noticed my disappearance."

"Your majesty should have been informed, nonetheless."

"That aside, what do you plan to ask of my father when you win my favor?" Shizuru asked, trying desperately to change the subject.

"There is no guarantee that I'll win the tournament, so I haven't thought about it," was the gruff response.

"Ara, but Natsuki-kun already has my favor. So therefore, his prize is guaranteed. I suggest he think long and hard about this."

Noticing that they have arrived at the door of the princess's bedroom, Natsuki readied herself to depart from the scene. However, as soon as Natsuki uttered 'Good evening', she received a very confused expression from the other girl.

"Ara, will Natsuki-kun accompany me until sunset? I'm sure Count Roshen will not mind," requested the brunette.

"I apologize, princess, but my studies await me," bowed the blunette.

When Natsuki turned to leave, she felt the sleeve of her formal uniform being tugged it. Her eyes traveled down her limb to follow over to that of the princess's and eventually, looking up to face her crimson-eyed captor.

Her facial expression was neutral. To an average onlooker, there was nothing off about the way the princess presented herself. She was pristine and overflowing with tranquility that no other kids her age can possibly mimic. However, Natsuki knew better than to judge a book by its cover. Right now, what Natsuki saw was a broken doll behind that façade; a broken doll begging to be repaired; a person begging to be looked after and comforted.

Giving an inaudible sigh, the page turned around and presented a warm smile to the princess. "I suppose I can forgo studying for a couple of hours. I am the number one page, after all."

Entering the princess's bedroom, Natsuki found that it was huge. This bedroom itself was the size of the dining mess that they were eating in earlier. A large king-sized bed full of pillows and other fluff-like items, a dresser, a full-sized mirror, and a large chest adorned the room. There was a balcony that overlooked a part of the mini forest that they were in earlier.

Closing the door to the balcony, the princess decided to take a seat on her bed, beckoning Natsuki to follow suit. However, instead of sitting next to the princess, the knight-to-be sat in front of her on the floor, seiza-style. Shizuru noticed that maids were bustling about in her bedroom, trying to clean every speck of dust away, tidying anything that looked even one centimeter out of place. The princess dismissed all of her maids, and told them to take the rest of the day off.

"Natsuki, when we are alone, please call me Shizuru."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sighing to herself, the blue-haired page was walking slowly back to the page's quarters. However, she stopped in her tracks when she heard some familiar voices talking in a nearby hallway. Walking closer to the source, she found that it was the king and queen slowly making their way back to their chambers. Natsuki waited for them to notice her.

In the time that she spent with the princess, she has come to realize just how stubborn the crimson-eyed girl was. Although she held a calm aura about her, the girl had trouble analyzing situations from an objective point of view. One prime example since their meeting was her vehement refusal to inform her parents of what happened in the afternoon.

To be honest, Natsuki wanted to tell the king and queen about it for two reasons. First and foremost being the princess's safety. She couldn't shake the feeling that the brunette was traumatized by the event a lot more than she let show, and she was determined to not allow history to repeat itself. The second was the fact that the supposed guards were the ones who were doing the attacking. Something about that didn't quite add up and it made Natsuki uneasy.

"Ara, it's Natsuki-kun!" the queen stated when she spotted the young page at the end of the hall.

Natsuki took this as her cue to approach them and kneeled down as she greeted the two royalties, "Good evening, your majesty, your highness."

"What are you still doing here, boy? It's late. Did you get lost?" the king asked.

"I wish to speak with your majesty and your highness in private. This is a matter regarding the princess's safety."

At the words, 'princess's safety', the two immediately ushered the boy into their chambers. When Natsuki entered, she nearly gawked at the size of the room. It made Shizuru's room seem like the baby room of the house. And actually, upon further analysis, it probably was.

"What was it you wished to say?" the king spoke with utter seriousness.

It was the first time Natsuki was spoken to in this tone by him, but nevertheless, she did not falter. "My first meeting with the princess was not at the dining mess this evening; it was in the mini forest by the stables."

At this announcement, shocked was evident in the features of the two parents until they hurriedly concealed it. They couldn't let a child witness such a face, after all. At that, their attention was undivided for the page, and so the blunette continued.

"I realize I am only fourteen years old, and so my analysis of the situation is limited by my age. Therefore, I will try to tell this story with as little of my assumptions as possible," the blunette started. "I was reading in a forest this afternoon when I heard yelling and screaming. When I found the source of the sound, the scene was four men chasing after the princess. She was terrified, your majesty. These men wore the uniform of a royal guard, but they were trying to place harm on the princess. I jumped into the scene to stop them from hurting her any longer. I was able to ensure the princess's safety, but I was unable to capture the assailants. For that, I apologize for my incompetence."

"Sh-Shizuru didn't say anything to me about this, dear," the queen was the first to speak.

"Your highness, she did not intend to tell anyone about this. She said that she didn't want to worry your majesty and your highness."

"So why are you telling us now?" the king asked.

"Because I feel that it is crucial information for the princess's safety. I feel like something bigger than just abduction is at play, your majesty. Right now, the princess is traumatized and she can only think of it as a direct hit against her. She's failing to see the big picture."

"And what is the big picture, young page?" the king continued to push.

"That, I cannot say for sure," Natsuki was hesitant to divulge her conclusions.

"You may speak freely. I wish to hear your thoughts on the matter."

"Even though I'm only fourteen years of age?" asked the shocked girl.

"Yes. You have a very sharp mind. Don't underestimate yourself based on age. Now, tell me. What is the big picture?"

"Probably a rebellion…" revealed the blunette in a hushed tone.

"A rebellion? How did you come up with that?" the queen exclaimed.

Flinching slightly, Natsuki bowed her head deeply. "I apologize for causing unnecessary alarm to your highness."

"No, boy. Do not apologize for that. I can almost see why you think that, but why don't you elaborate on how you made such a conclusion?" the king said.

"The men trying to abduct the princess were wearing royal guard uniforms. That fact tells me there must be an organization behind the matter. Mere bandits cannot even imagine to attain such clothing, nonetheless, actually be stationed in the castle to protect the princess. It must have been a long process to get those men stationed here. The fact that it was planned tells us that there is an underground group of some sort that has been unhappy with this country for some time now. So, what does an underground organization who doesn't like the way things are running do? And since the princess was about to be abducted, how does that fit into the equation? All that just screams rebellion to me, your majesty."

"You are very observant, young page. But that is insufficient information," the king replied.

"Thank you, your majesty. Please don't tell the princess that I have divulged this information to your majesty and your highness. I'm afraid she may not take it well."

The king let loose a warm chuckle, "Young page. Even though you are one year younger than my daughter, you are much wiser than she is. Very well, I will not tell her that you told us her secret."

"Thank you, your majesty. That is greatly appreciated."

"However, since you came to us with this information, presumably that means you also want something to be done to protect the princess from future harm."

"Yes, your majesty. However, I fear that the princess cannot trust any of the royal guards now due to the incident from this afternoon, but I don't know what other options there are."

"That is not a big problem. We will assign a trusted knight for her protection. Natsuki, I thank you for coming to me about this. You are indeed very capable and responsible."

"Thank you, your majesty."

"You may go now," the king dismissed.

Bowing one last time to the king, Natsuki exited the king's chambers and headed back to her bedroom. It was a rather tiring day. She met the royal family of Windbloom, and she was glad she did. They were all nice people. She will become a proud knight and be useful to these people one day.

That night, she lied in bed, thinking over the events that occurred throughout the day. Something about the attack on the princess didn't add up. There was something that just bugged her, but she couldn't place a finger on what it was.

However, her last thought before falling asleep was a lot lighter than the situation she mulled over.

_I wonder what I should ask the king for…_

* * *

**(1) **A quiver is a case that hold arrows. There are many types of quivers, so let's pretend that this one is a belt quiver.

* * *

Alright, so Shizuru enters the picture now. Now that you guys finally got your Shiznat dosage, how was it? Personally, I think I could do better, but I guess I'll save that for later.

Anyway, _**reviews **_are very much appreciated. So please do leave some kind words detailing your thoughts. Thank you.


	4. Beginnings

**Disclaimer**: Do not own... obviously

**A/N**: So sorry for the late update! I got this new thing called a job and it's been eating up a lot of my time. That, and it eats up all my energy and leaves me incapable of writing.

**A/N2**: For those interested, I have a degree in Computer Engineering, and am currently working as a programmer. I'm still fairly new to everything, so the learning curve had been a bit tough on me. Therefore, I think I should be rewarded a cookie for all my hard work. :)

**Final announcement**: **EVERYONE IN THE STORY**, EXCEPT SAEKO, **THINKS THAT NATSUKI IS A BOY!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Beginnings

* * *

"And qualifier rounds are over! Kuga Natsuki and Kanzaki Reito are in the lead with 46 points each! Archers will take a short break before continuing onto the preliminary rounds," the commentator yelled.

Giving a small sigh, Natsuki moved to one of the refreshment booths and sipped on a goblet of water. _This is a waste of my time. Why am I doing this to begin with?_

"Not too shabby, Natsuki," a male voice said behind her.

"Not so bad yourself, Reito. Planning to win this competition?"

"Winning would mean a lot more if you were actually trying though," he replied with a chuckle. "You fooled everyone else, but I know you. You're better than this."

"You give me too much credit," she replied, taking another sip. "Gathering 46 out of 50 points did take effort, you know."

"Yes, but if you actually tried as hard as I did, you would have all 50. I've seen you with a bow and arrows. So do me a favor, Natsuki, and treat this as a competition between me and you. Give it your all."

"And if I win?"

"Then you prove to be a better archer than I am."

"You take over server boy duties for me for ten occasions. Allow me to cash that in whenever," Natsuki stated.

"Deal. But if you lose, the same applies to you," Reito held his hand out.

Grasping onto his hand and giving it a quick shake, the blunette grinned. "You asked for it."

"Archers, please assemble into the field for the first round in the preliminaries!" the commentator cried.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"And the winner of the competition is Kuga Natsuki, with 138 points!"

The crowd went wild with cheers as Natsuki turned to face the king and princess. She gave them a curt nod before turning to see Reito heading towards her. She watched him approach her with a tired expression on his face.

"Congratulations," he said.

"Thank you," the blunette replied.

"Damn! I wasn't even close when you started concentrating like that."

"Don't feel bad. You came in second with your… 108 points, right?"

"It was actually just 104, but close enough, I suppose."

"Brother! Brother!" yelled an energetic voice. "You did really good, brother!"

A little girl with black braids and yellow eyes appeared before them. Ruffling the newcomer's hair, Reito introduced her as his younger sister, Mikoto.

"Brother tells me you are rivals!" the little girl said to Natsuki.

Quickly covering the mouth of his loose-lipped sister, he shook his head at her. "You weren't supposed to tell him that."

A muffled 'sorry brother' was heard over Reito's hand before he let her go. He gave Natsuki an embarrassed glance before realizing that the blunette was looking off at a distance.

"Natsuki?" he hesitantly called out.

"Hm? Rei— I have to go now," the other page took off in a hurry, never actually taking her eyes off whatever she was looking at.

_That was weird… Is he trying to avoid the crowd?_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Princess!" Natsuki shouted at the brunette.

The page tried to approach her, but when she was five feet away, a uniformed guard stopped her. "State your business."

"Ara, it's alright. Let him through," the crimson-eyed girl ordered.

The guard reluctantly moved aside for the impudent young intruder, glaring at her as she passed through him. The page crouched down to a one-legged kneel to properly greet the royalty.

"Good afternoon, princess. Pardon my rudeness earlier."

"Ara, was there something Natsuki-kun wanted with me?"

"May I approach you, princess?"

"You may…"

The blunette stood up and closed the distance between the two, placing her lips next to the princess's ears. "Let's leave this place. I do not like the way some of these people are looking at you."

"Ara, is Natsuki jealous?"

"Please princess. Announce your leave and go back to the castle."

"But, Natsuki, I have to stay to entertain some guests. It's too early for me to retire."

Glancing around herself, she noticed that some of the uniformed guards were muttering amongst themselves at the display. She looked behind the princess and took note of a cloaked man staring intently at the two of them.

"I understand that there are things a princess must do in these events, but please listen to me this time. I'll do anything you want, just this once though."

"Ara, anything?"

Noticing that the cloaked figure's hand was shifting under the garment, Natsuki began to inwardly panic. _Is he holding a sword under that cloak? There's no way he can be that dumb, to attack the princess in broad daylight. Wait – _

Looking up towards the towers, she noticed that there were people standing by with weapons drawn. _Bows and arrows… shot from this distance, easy target. And will cause a hell of a ruckus. I need to get the princess out of here. I don't know what's going on, but it seems like peaceful days will be coming to an end._

"Anything, Natsuki?" the princess repeated, catching the page by surprise.

"Anything," she replied, a bit too quickly to actually process anything that was said.

The princess gave a ghost of a smile before disappearing into the crowd. As soon as she was gone, the page found that Reito has caught up to her with a questioning expression.

"What was that about?" Reito asked, sister in tow.

"I need a favor from you. Count it as one server boy duty occasion. Are you in?" the blunette said.

"I'm in. What do you need?"

"Follow that girl I was talking to earlier, but do not let her see you."

"You want me to _stalk _her?"

"I want you to make sure she gets back to the castle safely," Natsuki said as she pushed him onwards. "Hurry before you lose her."

As soon as her raven-haired friend has disappeared after the brunette, she turned to investigate the suspicious cloaked figure. She watched him as she ordered Reito to protect the princess and noticed that he moved in the same direction the crimson-eyed girl did. She set off after him, trailing a couple steps behind and trying to ignore the crowd of people congratulating her for winning the tournament.

Before the cloaked figure could enter the castle and trail after the princess any longer, Natsuki yelled after him.

"Stop right there. That's a restricted area," she said, bow ready, arrow drawn. "State your business."

"I got lost. Sorry," the man said, rising his hands up into the universal surrender signal.

"Try again. The truth this time," the blunette deadpanned.

"I got lost," he repeated.

Natsuki let go of the arrow and watched it cross the distance, charging straight at the man. However, he was able to dodge the attack with ease, drawing his sword at the same time.

"You wish to fight? That is not a wise choice, young page."

"I wish to protect," she retorted, reaching for the sword resting on her belt.

"Very well. Let's see how well you fight…"

He charged at his opponent and swung at the kid, but found that his strike was dodged. An attack came in from his right. That was quick, but blocking was a success. A low growl escaped from the blunette as she repositioned herself away from the bigger man.

_Let's see how well this page will do with against my fury of strikes…_

The man took a deep breath, preparing himself for his attack. He spread his legs a little further apart; took another deep breath. Then, let out a loud cry as he charged ahead, poking his sword at the page continuously.

Left chest. Right chest. Lower right abdomen. Heart. Stomach. Throat. Right chest. Left abdomen. Heart. Left side. Right shoulder. Throat.

None of his targeted attacks connected against his opponent.

_Impressive, kid. You are quite agile… but I have no time to play with you. _

One last swipe positioned the page in front of the castle and the intruder towards the exit. As soon as Natsuki realized that she was fooled, the man has started to flee the area.

_Damn it! What the hell is going on? Oh, shoot! The princess!_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Natsuki stood outside of Shizuru's chambers, completely out of breath from all the running she has been doing. The two guards looked at her suspiciously, but otherwise, did not pay her much mind.

"Please let the princess know that Kuga Natsuki wishes to speak with her," she asked one of the guards.

Giving her a grunt, the guard knocked on the door and disappeared into the room for all of five seconds. When he emerged from the room, he held the door open for the page, signaling that she was allowed to walk in. As soon as she did though, she found Reito gagged and tied to a chair in the middle of the room. She internally smacked herself when she saw the pleading look in his eyes, as if screaming for help.

"Princess," Natsuki started.

"Ara, Natsuki. I caught something," Shizuru said, walking over to the blunette's side. "He was following me rather suspiciously, so I had him tied and gagged."

Sighing to herself heavily, Natsuki rubbed her temples in hopes that it'll make her oncoming headache more bearable. The instant she un-gagged Reito, her ears were immediately bombarded by Reito's voice. In response, she placed the gag back into his mouth before giving him a warning glare.

"Not a word… you hear?"

Reito nodded dumbly before Natsuki was willing to free him of his verbal constraints again.

"You had me _stalk_ the _princess?_" he screamed after a moment a silence.

"You were supposed to _protect_ her and _not get caught_. Really stealthy, Reito."

"Ara, I think Natsuki has something he needs to tell me," the princess injected.

"Um, can I get untied first?"

"Ara. I'm sorry. Of co—"

"No. It's your punishment for your incompetence" Natsuki interrupted, glaring at Reito. Then she turned her attention to the crimson-eyed girl who situated herself on her bed. "I was worried that you might get attacked again, so I sent him to protect you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"I see. But why didn't Natsuki protect me himself?"

"There was something I had to do. In any case, I will take him back and reprimand him for his incompetence. I'm terribly sorry for the fuss that I have caused."

Natsuki gave the princess a deep bow before untying Reito. He gave a sheepish bow before leaving her chambers with the blunette.

As soon as they were out of the royal court, Reito turned to his friend and damn near screamed at her.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH THE PRINCESS?" he shouted.

"Keep your voice down," Natsuki replied. "I'm not her friend. We met about a week ago when I had server boy duty. The royal family had dinner with the count. Which, by the way…"

"What?" Reito asked, urging the other page to continue the sentence.

"You really need to work on your stealth. Seriously! How could you get caught? It was damn crowded out. Plenty of cover and pretending to mingle."

"I'm sorry," the raven-haired boy retorted, arms crossed. "She was really sharp, ok? It didn't take her long to notice at all, actually. I think she deliberately lead me towards those guards to tie me up."

Natsuki gave a small grunt as a response.

"But seriously, you talk to the princess so easily sometimes. Not like a knight would to a princess."

"Uh huh"

"No, really. I mean, you're polite and go through all that formal stuff. But when you speak, it's not as uptight as when you speak to, say… the count. It feels like your voice is very relaxed or something."

Natsuki looked her friend with a weird expression on her face. "Right… and tomorrow, pigs will fly. Get some rest Reito. You must be tired from all the getting caught you were doing."

He stopped outside of his door before giving Natsuki an answer. "I resent that, you know. I was doing you a favor."

"Don't get soft on me now, Reito," replied the blunette as she continued walking down the hall, heading for her chambers. _The battle hasn't even begun yet. It seems to me the trials are about to start…_

* * *

I'm aware that this isn't a longer chapter at all. But I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. I'm also aware that it's not as good and detailed as my other chapters. Not as action-packed as I would have liked either.

But, I'm through with keeping my readers waiting. Hopefully, the next chapter will be so awesometastic that it makes up for this lack of awesome one.

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Let me know! Clickie the "**review**" button.


	5. Starting the Second Phase

**Disclaimer**: Do not own... obviously

**A/N**: So sorry for the late update! There is no excuse... I just... lack motivation... -_-;;

**A/N2**: For those interested, I make awesometastic snickerdoodle cookies! :P

**Final announcement**: **EVERYONE IN THE STORY**, EXCEPT SAEKO, **THINKS THAT NATSUKI IS A BOY!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Starting the Second Phase

* * *

Natsuki found herself leaning against a pillar with a goblet of water in her hand, watching pages try so desperately to impress a knight with their useless chatter. Count Roshen lead her around the giant hall earlier in the morning, forcing her to play nice with whatever knight crossed their paths. She wasn't particularly worried about who's squire she became. She only hoped that they were as competent as she imagined her father was. The blue-haired page swirled her drink lightly as she continued to watch the people bustle about in their business, smirking when she noticed certain pages trying to corner some knights into a conversation.

"Having fun?"

Emerald eyes turned to find the source of the sound. When the owner of the voice was found, the blunette smiled in his direction, offering him to stay and chat with her.

"Oh yes. How I enjoy watching idiots be idiots..." was her sarcastic reply.

"The princess would be out soon. You wouldn't be bored much longer," the boy replied.

Had it not been for the fact that she had already mastered wearing a mask due to knight training (one must never lose one's composure... an etiquette and manners lesson), she would have gaped at her friend. And not just one of those 3-second gapes where your friend just said something stupid. No, it would have been one of those 'mouth hanging open, eyes bulging out, your friend just saying something so epically moronic, you swear he has gone mental' gapes.

"So who have you talked to? Any potential takers?" Natsuki asked, changing the subject.

"A few here and there. I think Sir Yuuki was interested in me. Won't know for sure until tonight's dinner," he replied. "You?"

"I felt like a panda on display when the Count dragged me from one end of the room to the next, and then back," she said, pausing to take a sip of water. "Met some people. All of them expressed interest, but I wonder who will actually take me to be their squire."

"I bet they're just going to fight over who gets to now," he said, pointing to a crowd of chattering knights standing by a table three pillars down. "Of course, that probably means the highest-ranked of them will win you, since that's how politics work."

The blunette suppressed a small grunt, opting to gulp down the rest of her water instead. "I hate politics. That's the worst part of knighthood."

He gave a sigh that was almost unnoticeable. "Yes, but unfortunately, it is another vital piece to keeping people happy..."

"Quite unfortunate..." the blunette responded.

She was about to add to her statement, but her attention was diverted when she briefly caught the presence of the brunette princess passing through crowds of people. She allowed her eyes to wander elsewhere, searching for the king and queen. Not that she had to look long, as the clinking of metal to glass brought her attention to the middle of the room.

"Attention everyone," the king announced. "I hope everyone is having a good time. It almost brings tears to my eyes knowing that so many pages will be joining us soon as squires to our talented knights. Knights, please have your decision ready by tonight, as the announcement dinner will be held here at sunset. That is all."

The speech was followed by light clapping before everyone went back to their business. Some knights approached the royal couple for what Natsuki presumed to be light conversation.

"I'm going to refill my goblet," the blue-haired page said to her company. "Need anything?"

"No, thank you. I think I'll go mingle a little more."

"Suit yourself. I am not up for any more mingling after what the Count put me through," she replied, moving towards the refreshment table and waving her hand at him as she left.

At the table, she slowly refilled her goblet with water, trying her best to look busy so that no one will approach her for conversation. When she was finished refilling, she hurriedly grabbed a small piece of bread and was about to head back to her hiding spot.

"Ara, Natsuki-kun seems to be in a hurry," a familiar voice called out.

"Princess," Natsuki gave the princess a bow. "How can I help you?"

"Is Natsuki free now?"

"Yes..." she replied, a bit wary of what the princess was up to.

"Ara, that's wonderful to hear! Might Natsuki be able to escort me back to my room?"

"Pardon my rudeness, princess, but you've only just arrived. Shouldn't you talk to some of the knights and pages before leaving?"

"I already talked to some, but this event is not exactly something I have to be present for. There will be more to come."

"If that is what you wish of me, princess, then I will escort you back to your chambers," Natsuki replied. Finishing her bread in two bites and gulping down the rest of her drink, she turned to the princess and smiled. "Shall we go then?"

The trek back her the princess's chambers was filled with silence. Neither spoke. Only the light tapping of two sets of footsteps were heard. Everyone else was at the banquet, leaving the two to be the only ones wandering the halls at this time of day. When they arrived to their destination, the page stood rigidly at the door, even as the princess stepped into her room.

"Ara? Natsuki? Are you not coming in?" the princess asked.

"I-I don't think – I mean, I should go now that you're back safely," the blunette stuttered out.

"Come join me for a while. I have a surprise for you," she replied, leaving no room for objection.

Sighing to herself in defeat, Natsuki slowly stepped into the room. She didn't think it was a good idea to be here with the princess, _alone_. After that day when Reito thought Shizuru was Natsuki's friend, she evaluated and re-evaluated her interactions with the brunette. She tried to analyze these interactions from every aspect that she could think of, to figure out what Reito meant when he said that she seemed relaxed around the royal heiress.

And from her evaluations, she finally noticed one thing. The heiress was very comfortable with her. Almost too comfortable, considering she was someone who was the target of abduction and that she has only met Natsuki recently. The princess should be wary of her, shouldn't she? She shouldn't just invite the page over to her chambers, unprotected and alone. So the question is, _why_ is the princess so trusting of her? It couldn't possibly be because Natsuki saved her _that one time, _can it?

"Ara, Natsuki?"

Natsuki thoughts scattered when she heard her name called and turned her attention to the brunette. "Yes, princess?"

"Here," she replied, handing the blunette a pendant of her family crest.

The pendant featured a wolf howling at the full moon on a hilltop, where moon itself was an emerald stone. Attached to the pendant was a long silver chain, which Natsuki presumed would go around her neck. She held the gift on the palm of her hand, staring at the way it was made so meticulously and elegantly. Not one mistake on this beautiful piece of art.

"It's... my family crest?" Natsuki was finally able to utter after a moment of silence. "But.. why?"

"I wanted to congratulate you for your promotion to a squire soon. There was no doubt in my mind that you'll be chosen by a knight, so I had it made for you. Do you like it?"

"I-I do. Thank you. But, I don't understand... why you are giving me a gift to begin with?"

"Ara? Is it not customary for friends to give gifts as a congratulatory gesture?"

"It is... but... we're friends?"

"We're not?"

"Well, I mean, you're a – THE princess and I'm just a lowly page. How – when did we become friends?"

"We're friends. Rank and status has nothing to do with this, right?

"But it does, doesn't it? A lot of people will be upset with me if I tell them I'm friends with the princess. They'll think that I'm trying to be on equal footing with you."

"Ara? Then we can be friends in private, can we not? But still friends, nonetheless."

"I suppose, but there is something I don't understand... why do you trust me so much? You haven't known me very long and it doesn't seem logical at all."

"Ara, why?" the princess replied, pausing for a moment to think. "I generally have excellent judge of character. And my gut feeling tells me you will never hurt me and that you will always be my side to protect me."

"That's... that's not very logical."

"So it's not. A long time ago, I met a boy in the gardens. He saved me from an attack. When I thanked him, he told me this, 'manly-men protect women, not hurt them'. Natsuki-kun is manly, so I believe he will protect me, not harm me," the princess replied with a smile.

"Hmm..."

Natsuki was left speechless, baffled at the princess's explanation. And what was this about manliness? Was she trying to make fun of her? Natsuki was aware of the fact that since she's really a girl, she probably doesn't look all that manly compared to some of the other boys. She won't grow facial hair like they do, and she has no lump in her throat. But the princess called her "manly", did she not? So does that mean the princess really thought of her as her knight in shining armor, so to speak, as she was not actually a knight yet.

The blunette inwardly grumbled, as she felt like her head was about to explode by analyzing the princess's words. She stayed quiet, not knowing what to say, not knowing how to reply, not knowing if she should just let the subject go or push for a better answer.

"Ara, Natsuki-kun?" the princess's voice pulled the page out of her reverie.

"Yes, princess?"

When Natsuki looked up to face the princess, she noticed from her peripheral vision that the sun was slowly starting to set. She wondered where the time had gone and made a mental note to try to leave as soon as possible. She needed to change into more appropriate clothing for the announcement dinner.

"You seemed troubled. Is there something you wanted to share?"

"No, princess. Thank you for asking. But, I did realize that the sun is starting to set, so I best be going. I must prepare for the dinner."

"Ara, Natsuki-kun is right. He shouldn't be late to such an important event. Well, I shall see you around, then," the princess replied with a smile.

"I shall be taking my leave now. Thank you again for the gift," the blue-haired page said, lifting her right palm to indicate the necklace she was holding.

And with that, the blunette exited the brunette's chambers and made the trek back to her own room. When she arrived, the first thing that she did was rummage through her closet to find her dress robes.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Welcome, everyone, to the wonderful celebration of our pages becoming squires. Tonight, a number of pages shall begin the second phase of their journey to knighthood. Knights, please come forward with the name of the page of your choice. I will make the announcement after food has been served," the king said. "Now then, let us all enjoy this evening."

Maids started to bring food to the table. Everyone began to pile food onto their own plates as the dining mess grew loud with voices. All the pages sat in the same table, chattering amongst themselves about which knight they thought they would be squired to. Natsuki listened with very, very little interest as she ate, until Reito started to engage her into their own conversation.

"Have any clue who you will be serving for the next few years?" Reito asked.

"Not at all," replied the blunette. "But it doesn't really matter all that much to me. All I care is whether or not he is competent."

"Those are pretty harsh words, aren't they?" he replied. "They're all knights, so that means they all have some amount of competence. But not all of them can be as good as your father."

Natsuki sighed to herself. "I know. I may a little irrational about this. After all, how good of a knight I become depends on my hard-work."

"Your father was great, Kuga, but I think that one day, you'll surpass him. Besides, it's not like you have to surpass him. You'll make your mark in history in your own way. It doesn't have to be his way."

"Hm... I doubt I could surpass him. And making my own mark in history, huh? I never really thought about that. I just wanted to be as good as he was. To serve the royal family that he loved so much with all that I have."

"You will do great things. Trust me on that, Kuga!"

Natsuki cleared her throat. "Why are we even talking about that? Enough about me, what about you? Any clue which knight has his eye on you?"

"I told you this afternoon, didn't I? Sir Yuuki seemed interested, but we'll see when the announcements are made. I can't wait to find out who gets to be a squire."

"I can tell," Natsuki replied.

She regarded her friend with a smile. He was practically jumping up and down with excitement. Not that he was actually showing it. Natsuki only knew from the glints in his eyes. Outwardly, he displayed himself as a calm gentleman, enjoying dinner with his fellow comrades.

"May I have everyone's attention?" the king interrupted with his booming voice. "I shall make the announcement now, so please listen up. The knights have all given me their decisions. Pages, when your name is called, please walk over to the knight who wishes to squire you. Knights, when you hear your name, please stand up to congratulate the page for graduating their page studies and entering their second phase of knighthood."

Chattering slowly died down as everyone waited excitedly for the king to call off people's names. The king cleared his throat and looked around the dining mess, as if to make sure he had everyone's undivided attention. When he was satisfied with what he saw, he continued on.

"Kuga Natsuki, our number one page of this year, shall be squired to Sir Sayers."

When Natsuki heard her name, she stood from her seat, receiving a congratulatory clap to her back before making her way towards the standing knight. She gave him a polite bow as she approached him, smiling and re-introducing herself to the man.

"Good evening. My name is Kuga Natsuki. Please take care of me in the coming years," she said.

The knight gave a hearty laugh before placing both his hands on her shoulders. "You've grown up to be quite handsome, boy! You look very much like your mother, but your husky voice came from your father."

"You know my father, sir?"

"I do. We fought side by side in several battles. He was a great man. A great man, indeed," he replied when a sad glint in his eyes. As soon as the glint came though, it disappeared with his next sentence. "Come boy, sit. We have much to discuss."

In the background, Natsuki barely made out the announcement that Reito was to be squired to Sir Yuuki. She smiled to herself at this, finding a seat next to the knight she will be working with for the next few years of her life. When she was finally seated, a goblet was thrust into her hands, and everyone within vicinity raised their goblets to congratulate her. She smiled politely at them, brought her goblet up to join theirs, and they all chugged their beverage in once synchronous motion.

"Alright, boy. Let me tell you what my duties are and what your duties will be. King Fujino has recently entrusted me with Princess Shizuru's safety. I haven't actually been around lately as I have been busy with other work. The king used to have me travel between countries a lot, you see. To help maintain the peace we have with our neighbors. I didn't get back until two days ago though, so this is all fairly new to me as well. So, _our_ job, boy, is to be the princess's personal bodyguards. Of course, we will have other duties and obligations as well, but that will be our _main_ job. You understand?"

"Yes, sir," the blunette replied." What will our other duties include?"

"I'm fairly positive that I still have to do some traveling for the pickier countries. Some are rather hard to please and they like familiarity. You will come along with me on those trips, and you will learn how to deal with many situations through compromise, rather than through a sword."

"And what about the princess? If we are both gone-"

"Do not worry about that, my boy. I believe the king will entrust Sir Yuuki and his squire with that task if we are ever to become unavailable. I do not foresee it happening often, but it is a good idea to have stand-ins for the job. After all, we only have one princess. We cannot take risks."

"Yes, sir."

At the end of the dinner, a few of the pages stayed behind to help clean the mess. Natsuki and Reito, however, were not amongst them. The two decided to escape to the stables to find their horses and have one final race together as pages.

"Ready?" Natsuki asked.

She received the thumbs up from Reito and grinned. Then, she turned her attention back to the front. She reached into her pocket and threw a white towel into the air. As soon as the towel hit the ground, two horses galloped away with incredible speed.

"Hya!" Natsuki yelled. "Hya, hya!"

Duran picked up his speed, passing his opponent by a few meters. The cold wind hit against Natsuki's face harshly and the sound of the other horse's steps grew fainter and fainter as time passed by. Eventually, Natsuki ended up back where she started and told Duran to halt. The horse gave a loud snort, but obeyed nonetheless. When Reito approached her, she smirked at him.

"That's another point for me. You're still losing," Natsuki said. "11-9"

"Ah, well. I am not ashamed to lose to you. Especially with the score as close as it is," Reito replied. "But remember, I'm going to beat you in our upcoming squire days."

Natsuki let out a small chuckle. "I welcome the challenge."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Natsuki stood inside her room, staring at the emptiness of its current state. She has packed all her things already. Early tomorrow morning, she will begin the purification process. And soon, she will become a full-fledged squire to Sir Sayers. Soon...

"I wonder if father will be proud to find that I will be Sir Sayer's squire," she thought as she laid in bed that night, staring at the ceiling.

She slowly traced the intricate patterns of the pendant she wore around her neck, feeling the ridges of the hilltop and the wolf, and the bump of the emerald stone. She smiled to herself, wondering what new experiences await her.

* * *

**OMAKE: (Shizuru's and Natsuki's first meeting... Shizuru's POV)**

"What's this, Miss Maria?" a five year old Shizuru asked.

"That's a rose, princess. They are said to represent love," the maid answered.

"Love? Miss Maria, can I give them to mommy and daddy then?"

The maid gave a light chuckle. "No, princess. This 'love' is the kind of love you share with your soulmate. The one destined to be by your side, to protect you, and to love you. You will share joys and burdens with this person." She looked down at the princess to find that she held a confused expression on her face. "You will understand when you're older."

Little Shizuru blinked at the long explanation given to her. She didn't really understand what Miss Maria was talking about, but if Miss Maria told her that she would understand when she's older, then she believed her. Miss Maria never lied. Shizuru lightly pet the petals of the rose, wondering why they were so red to begin with. When she looked up to ask, she was frightened to see that Miss Maria looked frightened. She turned around to try to find out what the cause was, but before she could, a flash of blood-stained gray covered her eyes. In front of her was Miss Maria shielding the young princess from a sharp pointy object.

"Run, princess..." the maid whispered. "Run..."

"I will purge you of your sins!" the assailant yelled, followed by insane laughter. "And you will be re-born into an angel, a sinless being!"

But Shizuru's little legs would not move an inch. Her eyes stayed glued to the assailant, who by now was raising his arm for another attack. She screamed. She screamed as loud as her little lungs allowed. In the back of her mind, she thought she heard a voice yell 'move!', but she couldn't tell for sure. The only thing she knew was that she ended up laying on the ground, with a small body on top of hers. She looked up to find that guards had rushed to her side, man-handling the attacker and carrying Miss Maria off to get medical help.

As she finally processed what has happened in her little mind, she felt the body on top of her tremble. She tried to gently push the person off, to let that person know they should move now. Instead, her efforts only yielded a verbal response.

"I-I'm sorry... please give me a minute," the voice of a child replied.

After a few moments, the person on top of her slowly slid off of her. Shizuru looked over at the figure. The first thing she noted about him was his hair color, then his clothes. When one of the guards was about to pick him up to get medical attention, the boy refused the help. It was only then that Shizuru noticed the blood flowing out of his right leg.

"You're bleeding. You should go get help," Shizuru urged.

The boy chuckled through hisses of pain. "Nah, it's okay. I'm okay."

"Please. You saved me. I don't want to see you hurt more," the princess persisted.

"Okay then. But I'm only accepting this because papa said it's not manly to worry women. Which means, if I make you worry, then I'm not manly. And I'm manly. So I'm going to make you stop worrying," the boy replied.

Shizuru chuckled at this response and nodded, affirming this boy's "manliness". She nodded at the guard that was standing by them, cuing for him to take her young savior to the medical facilities.

"Hey, before I get taken away, I want to know your name. Mine is Kuga. Kuga Natsuki. My papa is Sir Akio. He's going to come find me soon. I just hope he knows where to find me..."

"My name is Fujino Shizuru. Don't worry. I will ask someone to tell him. Thank you for saving me, Kuga-san."

Young Natsuki was lifted by the guard. As the child was lifted, he gave Shizuru a wide grin. "You're welcome. Papa said that manly men protect women, not hurt them."

And with that, the young blunette was brought out of sight. Shizuru stared at her surroundings. Some guards were standing nearby, so she waved one over and asked them to let a Sir Akio know that his son is in the medical facilities. When the guard nodded and moved off, she turned her attention back to the rose bush.

_The one destined to be by your side, to protect you, and to love you..._

"I want to give Natsuki-kun a rose... I wonder what that means..." Little Shizuru thought.

* * *

My internet decided to be a whiny baby on me again and stopped working. Otherwise, this would have been posted 7-8 hours earlier. Anyway, I think that was a somewhat longer chapter... I think.

How'd you guys like the omake? It's relevant to the plot, in some small way... but it still is, so you better have read it!

Haha... Ok. Next chapter, you will be able to witness the awesomeness of- ((_SPOILER DETECTED! SHUTTING DOWN_))

...Shit.


	6. Squire Days, Part 1

**Disclaimer**: Do not own... obviously

**A/N**: I updated faster this time! AND with longer chapter. Aren't you proud of me?

**A/N2**: Before this, I uploaded a fic titled "Let Me Lie to Myself". You should go read it! There's an audio with it too. But you must ask for it. I suggested reading it first, though. :P

**A/N3**: I'm making it a point to write an omake at the end of every chapter from now on, because there are things I want to include from Shizuru's POV, but don't want to distract the flow of Natsuki's POV. Therefore, although they are just omakes, please read them to gain a better understanding of Shizuru's background!

**Final announcement**: **EVERYONE IN THE STORY**, EXCEPT SAEKO, **THINKS THAT NATSUKI IS A BOY!**

* * *

Chapter 6: Squire Days, Part 1

* * *

Natsuki found herself kneeling before a large cross inside a chapel. Standing beside her was Sir Sayers, reciting the duties a squire has to his knight. She listened intently even though she has already memorized this passage and every so often, she would reply "In the name of God, I shall". This went on for hours. The blunette's legs have long since become numb, but she didn't care.

"...you may now stand and face me. I shall purge you of any sins you may have committed," Sir Sayers said as he closed the book he was holding.

The soon-to-be squire slowly stood up from her position, her weak legs barely holding her up. She never noticed this before now, and she didn't know why. But now, in this dimly-lit chapel at the break of dawn, she noticed something. Sir Sayers has the brightest blue eyes she has seen in her life. With his dark-brown hair and chiseled jawline, she guessed that he was probably a very sought after husband. Except, she hasn't heard anything about Sir Sayers having a wife.

The knight withdrew a knife from his waist, unsheathed the tiny blade, and gestured for Natsuki's right arm. At this, she broke out of her reverie and held out her arm for him. Pulling the sleeve of her shirt up, he lightly carved a cross onto it. Blood slowly seeped through the penetrated skin, forming tiny bulbs before sliding down onto the floor. He repeated the process with Natsuki's left arm.

"Your blood shall purge your soul and free you of the evil that dwells within," he started, then hands her a goblet of red wine. "Drink this and cleanse your body of the ill-willed spirits that may reside."

The blunette took the offered drink and gulped it down in one sip before returning the goblet to the knight. He smiled at her, which she returned.

"From this day forth, until the day you are dubbed, Kuga Natsuki is squire to Sir Sayers. You shall attend to my needs and I shall teach you the lessons to learn of knighthood," he said.

"In the name of God, I shall," was his reply.

And with that, the official purification ceremony was over. The blue-haired squire grabbed a cloth nearby and wiped the blood off her arms, only to find that red liquid still continued to seep through. She was going to need to wrap her arms up with some bandages, but for now, she'll just have to deal with blood-soaked sleeves. Deciding that she didn't actually care much for the shirt she was currently wearing, she let the sleeves fall back down before looking over at the knight.

"Ready, Kuga?" Sir Sayers asked. "First, I need to show you your room."

"Yes sir," she replied. "Will I be residing in the castle?"

"Of course! Closest quarters possible to the royal family. We have to protect the princess, so it's most efficient that we are close by," he answered.

Natsuki nodded, but said nothing more. She was lead back to the castle, trekking through unfamiliar paths as she followed the knight to her new room. She made mental notes to wander these halls whenever possible, to learn the layout inside and out. When she was a page, she was not allowed into this part of the castle, but now that she was here, it didn't seem all that special. Same colored walls, same texture floor, same type of doors.

"This will be your room, Kuga," the knight announced as he stood outside a door with her last name on it. She stared at the nameplate for a second before looking over to her mentor.

"And that's where I am," he continued, pointing at the door across from her room. "You wake up at the break of dawn, knock on my door to wake me, and then go straight to the princess's chambers. You will wait outside for her until she wakes and escort her to wherever she wishes to go. That is your default assignment for now, until I have come up with something more concrete."

"Yes sir," the squire replied. "Will you be needing any assistance before I head to the princess's chambers?"

"No, just wake me. I don't believe in making the squires do menial tasks like helping me dress or fetching me water. Those were your page days. I am going to polish you to be a fine knight, boy."

Natsuki smiled at this. It seems like Sir Sayers is as competent as she was hoping. "Yes sir. I look forward to learning from you."

He gave a jolly laugh and waved his hand at her as he retreated to his room. "I hope so! I'm not going to go easy on you, boy! You are Sir Akio's son. I expect great things from you."

"I won't disappoint you, Sir Sayers," she replied.

He placed a hand on his door and smiled back at his newly-acquired squire, "I don't doubt you."

And with that, he pushed forward and entered his room. Natsuki watched the knight's door close before turning towards her own room and entering. She found that her things have already been moved when she saw a familiar box placed haphazardly off to the side of her room. Smiling to herself, she walked over to the box and began to unpack whatever belongings she had, mostly clothes.

When she was finished unpacking, she found some bandages and began to strip herself of her shirt, groaning slightly as some of her blood has dried and was stuck onto the sleeves of her shirt. She cleaned the cuts once more, ridding of any excess and dried blood before wrapping her arms carefully. When she was finished, she plopped down onto her bed, exhausted.

"That ceremony took way too long," she thought to herself. "But I'm a squire now. And it's kind of ironic that I turned out to be with the knight that is charged with protecting the princess, now that I think about it. I wonder if the king did this on purpose."

She reached her hand over to her chest and picked up the pendant that she was wearing, tracing the details with her fingertips. "Friends, eh? You're an odd one, Shizuru."

She brought her hand back down to her chest, letting go of the pendant that she was fiddling with. And then she noticed something. She could feel the slight bump of her chest, which was not a good thing. She'd need to layer the cloth around there more tightly. And she'd need to wear slightly more loose-fitting clothing. Sighing to herself, she stood up from her bed and moved over to lock her door. Then, she stripped herself of her undershirt and slowly unwrapped the long cloth binding her chest.

She knew women thrive to have large chests. She remembered the last time she saw Mai. They were 12, almost 13, but she could tell Mai's chest was already growing. And the redhead seemed very pleased with that fact. For Natsuki though, the bigger her chest became, the less she liked it. She needed to be a man, and men have flat chests! She glared down at her own chest, displeased to note that it'll only continue to grow throughout her squire years.

She was in the middle of re-binding her chest when a knock came to her door. Cursing to herself under her breath, she quickly finished the task at hand before throwing on an undershirt. She opened the door slightly to find a guard staring down at her.

"Are you Kuga Natsuki?" he asked.

She held back a scoff and the urge to tell him to read the name on the door. That if he did, he wouldn't ask such a stupid question. Instead, she answered, "Yes, that's me."

"The princess requests your company. I believe you are the squire in charge of protecting her," he said, adding the last bit in when he saw the bandages on her arms.

"Yes, I'll be at her chambers soon. Thank you," replied the blunette.

She really wanted to close the door on his face, but the etiquette pounded into her from her studies taught her otherwise. She waited to see if the guard wanted anything else from her. When he nodded at her and took off, she closed the door and tried to have thoughts of something other than beating that guy senseless.

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths to calm herself. Breathe in, breathe out, she told herself repeatedly. After her heart rate has slowed down to a more normal pace, she opened her eyes again and crossed her room to her closet, where she picked out a shirt to wear.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Ara, Natsuki! What a pleasant surprise," the princess said when she saw the blunette walking into her chambers.

"You sent for me, princess," Natsuki replied.

"Ara, how silly of me. That I did. Come, I would like to visit the gardens," she stood from her dresser and walked over to the squire. "I see Natsuki likes his present."

"Yes, thank you again."

Realizing that her necklace was sitting on top of her clothes, she grabbed the pendant and tucked it under her shirt. The princess displayed a grin upon her lips, which Natsuki reciprocated before stepping to the side, so that she was not blocking the room's exit. The princess took the lead, heading towards the door, followed closely behind by her escort.

"I heard your purification ceremony was this morning. How was it?" the princess asked, starting idle chatter.

"It went well. Thank you for asking," was her reply.

"Does Natsuki like the knight she has been squired to?"

"Yes, I think that Sir Sayers is very competent."

"Ara, I'm glad to hear that."

Silence fell between the two shortly. The walk through the garden was like walking through a maze. The plants rose taller than they stood, and there were constant turns left and right. Natsuki tried to make a note of every turn they made, but she lost her way somewhere around the twentieth turn. She had a feeling that maybe the princess was testing her.

"Princess, if I may ask, where are we headed to?" Natsuki finally voiced.

"Ara? Nowhere in particular."

And with that, they continued to walk towards what Natsuki presumed to be deeper into this garden maze. When her ears picked up voices, the squire tightened her grip on her sword. She picked up her pace, walked up to the princess, signaled for silence by placing her index finger vertically over her lips, and positioned herself in front of the royal heiress. She walked closer to the source of the voices as slowly and stealthily as possible, so as to not alert whoever may be ahead of them.

She neared the edge of the tall green wall and peaked over, only to find Reito talking to someone else. Relaxing visibly as she recognizes that there is no danger, she gave the princess an apologetic smile and allowed her to take the lead once more.

"Ara, if it isn't Reito-kun," the princess spoke as she started towards him and his company, who revealed himself to be Sir Yuuki. "And Sir Yuuki. How do you do?"

The two gave the princess a deep bow before the knight answered her question. "I am doing well. Just training my young squire here."

"I trust he is meeting your expectations?" the princess asked.

"Oh, yes! Very much so. Kanzaki here is a very fast learner. Second best amongst the pages this year," he bragged, not noticing that Natsuki was standing only two steps away from the princess.

"Ara, that's impressive, Reito-kun. Well, I best be going then, before I take up any more of your time. Natsuki?"

Natsuki gave a small bow and stepped to face the side, allowing the princess to walk ahead of her once more. However, before the princess was even able to take more than three steps, Sir Yuuki spoke up.

"Natsuki? As in Kuga Natsuki? The only one to best my squire in his page days?" he asked, incredulous.

"Yes sir. I am Kuga Natsuki," she replied stoically.

"Kanzaki tells me you are rivals and hold very many friendly competitions against one another, is that true?"

"Yes sir. It is."

"Then, it's also true that you currently best him at swordplay?"

"Yes sir."

"Ah, then perhaps, if the princess does not mind, he and you can have a friendly duel now."

"I'm sorry. I'm currently escorting the princess. To make her wait and watch a du -"

"Ara, I do not mind. It seems rather interesting," the brunette injected.

"In that case, I accept," Natsuki replied.

"Wonderful," the knight exclaimed. "Then, draw your swords and be ready!"

Natsuki watched Reito reach for the grip on his sword, so she followed suit, pulling her weapon out from its scabbard. They faced each other, sword held up, ready and guarded. In the back on her mind, Natsuki barely recognized the words signaling the commencement of the duel.

Reito seemed strangely confident in his stance. He shifted the balance on his feet every so often, something he did not used to do. The way he held his sword was different too. His wrist no longer cocked downwards slightly. Instead, he held his arm at lower angle to achieve a similar position. The blunette now understood where the confidence came from.

Sir Yuuki must have given him some pointers. And good pointers too, she noted. She would have to be very careful, as it seems Reito may have the upper hand now. Although it was true that Natsuki has won more of their sword fights, Reito was by no means an easy opponent. Adding to the fact that Sir Yuuki has given him some really good pointers did not help Natsuki at all. Plus, they were fighting with real swords now. Not the wooden playthings from their page days.

Reito shifted his weight onto one of his heels, leaving the other weightless. Seeing this, Natsuki stepped to the side quickly, recognizing that move as a charge. As predicted, Reito came at her with incredible speed. Had it not been for her fast side-stepping, Reito would have successfully handed a hit on her. Taking advantage of the fact that his back was now facing her, she grabbed onto the back of his collar and yanked down, forcing him to stumble backwards.

The boy clumsily swiped his sword at his opponent, causing her to let go and evade the attack by jumping backwards, away from him, giving him enough time to catch his balance back. She smirked to herself as she readied her sword into position once more. The old Reito would have just stumbled and fell, leading to a victory on Natsuki's part. This was getting interesting. She could feel her blood begin to boil as she realized that this may possibly be the best duel she's had with her friend.

Natsuki shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet and tightened her hold on the sword's grip. She wanted to go on the offense, but stopped herself on the basis that Reito has now become an unpredictable opponent. It was much, much smarter to wait for the other to attack than to run head-first into danger.

Reito seemed to be reading the other squire's thoughts as he also stayed in position, waiting for an attack. When minutes has passed with neither duelers moving, Natsuki started to shift to her right causing the black-haired boy to follow. The two opponents circled one another, anticipating to evade at a moment's notice.

The sound of two swords clanked together when Reito swung at the blue-haired squire. Natsuki barely realized that her opponent had initiated another attack and could not evade in time. Instead, she brought her sword up to defend as quickly as she could. Admittedly, Reito was taller and stronger, so in their struggle for dominance, Natsuki was slowly losing.

Planting her feet wider apart, she tried to gain more stability as she pushed her sword further away from her, but the effort was proven to be done in vain as the black-haired boy continued to push her down. Her legs bent, signaling the start of a losing fight if it continued this way. With one mighty burst of her energy, she pushed her sword forwards, giving her a mere second as Reito lost his upper-hand. However, one second was all Natsuki needed as she rolled off to the side, creating distance between them.

"You've improved a lot," Natsuki said as she stood back into position. "And it's only been your first day under Sir Yuuki's guidance.

"He gave me a few pointers," replied Reito.

"Good pointers."

Taking a deep breath, Natsuki tried to steady her heart-rate. She needed a plan of some sort if she wanted to win, and she needed a plan fast. This has dragged on long enough. She cannot allow the princess to continue waiting.

Widening the distance between her feet, she placed one slightly in front of the other and leaned forward. Bringing her sword back into position, she kept a steady eye on Reito's movements. If she were Reito, what would she do next? And how would she counter it?

Reito stopped her thought process when he advanced towards her once more. This time, instead of a simple swing, he delivered a series of attacks, forcing the blunette to stay on the defense. Natsuki caught his last attack with her sword, causing him to cease his furious movements. Finding herself struggling for dominance in this game of brute-force once again, she tried to throw Reito off using the same trick. Unfortunately for her, Reito was keen on not losing his upper-hand this time.

Growling slightly to herself, she shifted the weight between her feet slightly. She couldn't transfer her weight around as freely as she wanted since she was pushing against the ground to gain the normal force needed against her opponent. She needed to get out of this bind, and she really needed to do it fast.

Noticing that Reito's weight is shifted slightly to his left, she decided to force her way out. She made a sudden step to his right and quickly retracted her sword, causing him to fall forward. Taking advantage of his lost of balance, she quickly spun out of his reach. When she was a safe distance from him again, she found that she had barely escaped injury. The cut on her right sleeve told her so.

She needed to finish this soon. It was slowly becoming evident to the blue-haired squire that if she dragged this duel on any longer, Reito may actually win. They were about evenly matched, but Reito was stronger, so she would be at a disadvantage if they collided.

But she was faster, she continued to think. No doubt about that at all. She'll need to use that to her advantage. She'll need an opening from him, a split second where he lets his guard down and places it somewhere else.

And that's when it hit her. Her face remained hard, lips thinned slightly as her grip tightened onto her weapon. It'll need to be executed perfectly. They were playing with real swords now. The slightest mistake could cost her much more than she could afford.

Taking one last deep breath, she set her plan into motion. The blunette charged towards her rival as fast as she could and delivered a half-swipe across his chest. At the last moment, she changed the course of her weapon, stopping the attack midway only to retract her sword and used her scabbard to swipe down at Reito's feet, forcing the black-haired boy to fall.

Before the boy could move, Natsuki towered over him with her weapon pointed at his neck, panting slightly. She let loose a grin at her friend, "Looks like I win again."

The black-haired boy returned a smile, "Well, you have to admit. I was close."

"You were," she replied, retracting her sword and offering her hand to help him up.

He gladly accepted and was pulled back into a standing position. "Just means I'm going to win next time."

She replied with a smirk before walking back to the princess's side. "I apologize for wait princess. Shall we get going now?"

"Ara, of course. That was quite entertaining, Reito-kun, Sir Yuuki. I bid you two a good day," the princess said before walking away.

The pair continued their stride through the maze of tall green walls. This time, Natsuki was not paying attention to the route she was taking. She blindly followed the princess as she thought about the duel she just had with Reito. Smiling to herself, she found herself excited to learn whatever Sir Sayers planned to teach her. If Sir Sayers could give her a few pointers, she was sure that the next time Reito and her were pitted against one another, she would come out on top.

"Natsuki?" the princess's voice broke through the silence.

"Yes, princess?"

The princess stopped walking and turned around to face the squire. Her crimson eyes burned into emeralds, showing the squire that she was being serious. "Please teach me how to fight."

Natsuki nearly gaped at the brunette when she heard the words leave those lips. Had the princess not been looking at her with such intensity, she would have thought it was a joke. A way to play off the duel she recently participated in. But the princess was serious. And she was waiting for an answer.

"I cannot do that, princess," Natsuki replied straightforwardly.

"Can't? Or won't? Natsuki, this is not an order. I'm asking you, as a friend."

"But fighting, princess? That is hardly something someone of your stature should ever do."

"The problem is that someone of my stature has a tendency to get abducted. And as you recall, not everyone around me is exactly trustworthy," she argued.

"That's why I'm around now," Natsuki counter-argued. "And Sir Sayers."

"And when you are off making peace with our neighbors?"

"Reito and Sir Yuuki will take our place."

"But they can't possibly be with me all day, every day. Same with you, as you have your knightly training to attend to as well. Natsuki, all I'm asking is for you to teach me to defend myself."

"I'm sorry to be so harsh princess, but the answer is still no."

"Why?"

"Effective self-defense is not something you can learn overnight. It requires time, commitment, discipline. And most of all, it requires the basic knowledge of balance," explained Natsuki.

The blunette stepped forward and dared to give the princess a light shove at the shoulders, causing the brunette to stumble backwards. Before the royal heiress even had time to think that she needed to catch herself, she felt Natsuki behind her, steadying her so that she won't fall.

"In your case, you'll need months of lessons before you even stand a chance against someone," Natsuki finished saying, letting go of the princess and moving to face her again. Her eyes widened slightly when she realized how informal she was speaking to the royalty. She immediately landed one knee onto the ground. "I apologize for my extreme rudeness, princess."

"I am tired. Please escort me to my room," the brunette said.

"Yes, princess."

Natsuki took notice of the disappointed tone in her voice. It was poorly concealed, or maybe the princess didn't care to hide it at the very moment. She could imagine how displeased or upset Shizuru must feel due to the rejection. Knowing that the princess was most likely upset because of her made the walk back awkwardly silent. She didn't dare speak and the brunette made no move to communicate with the squire. And no matter how much it irked her, she had to admit that it bothered her to know that she was the reason the princess was upset. It bothered her more than it should have. It bothered her to the point where she actually felt bad for denying the princess what she wanted.

After all, it wasn't like Shizuru wanted to recklessly toy with the squire's sword. She just wanted to learn to defend herself. She wanted to become more independent and not have to lean on someone else for her protection. She was making an effort to ensure her own safety. Natsuki shouldn't have denied her that. In fact, she should admired that quality that the princess possessed.

Thinking it over, the guilt doubled and she couldn't even remember why she was so adamant about not teaching the royal heiress how to fend for herself. In the very back of her mind, in the deep crevices that are so carefully hidden, was a little voice that said, '_because you want her to depend on you... because you want to always be her knight in shining armor_'.

She ignored that silly voice in her head and watched the princess's back as they trekked through the castle grounds.

Her brain was speeding through thoughts as she pressured herself to make a decision before arriving to the princess's chambers.

"Ara, thank you, Natsuki-san. You must b-"

"Fine," the blunette blurted.

"Ara?" replied the crimson-eyed girl, confused.

"Fine, I'll teach you self-defense. But the second you whine, it's over," Natsuki replied, somewhat reluctant as she was still fighting with herself. Then, she added, "And no one can know about this."

The way the princess's eyes lit up when Natsuki uttered those words felt like Christmas morning. A small bubble of giddiness erupted within the pit of her stomach and she wondered what the feeling was supposed to mean. Perhaps she really was seeing Shizuru as more of a friend than someone that she was forced to babysit.

"Of course, Natsuki. When is my first lesson?" the princess asked.

"Whenever you're ready."

"Now, then?" the brunette asked hopefully.

"Dinner will start soon, so how about after dinner?" asked the squire.

"Ara, of course," smiled the royal heiress. "Thank you, Natsuki."

"Then I will be back after dinner. I have to go serve Sir Sayers now."

The blue-haired girl gave a bow before exiting, leaving behind a smiling Shizuru. She crossed several hallways and entered the knight-squire quarters, headed straight for her room. She needed to change out of her current shirt that was cut at the sleeve, courtesy of Reito. That made it the second shirt that was damaged in one day. The first day that she became a squire. Perhaps she should invest in more clothes the next time she returns home.

Dinner passed by uneventfully. Sir Sayers had dinner by himself, so instead of tending to his every need as she was supposed to, he invited her to join him. At first, she rejected the offer on the basis that it was her sworn duty as a squire to serve him, but the knight countered that it was also the sworn duty of a squire to do as their knight ordered. And so, she recounted her day to the knight, leaving out a few minor details such as how she agreed to teach the princess self-defense.

Sir Sayers was extremely interested in the duel that Natsuki fought, and had asked for every last detail concerning it. When the squire finished recounting what she could remember, she found that the knight was deep in thought.

"I can't say for sure where your weak spots are," he began, "since I didn't watch you and there's only so much detail you can actually tell me. But I'm glad you won despite the disadvantage of not having me train you beforehand like your friend. We will have to figure out a time for your knightly lessons."

"Yes, sir. Perhaps the nighttime, when the princess is safe in her chambers and ready for bed?"

"As long as we're both not too tired, I have no problem with that," he replied. "Not tonight though. I imagine you are tired. It's been a long day for you. Purification ceremony, escorting princesses, duels."

"Yes, sir."

As soon as dinner was finished, the knight excused himself as he had business to attend to. When the tables have been cleared, Natsuki left the rest of the cleaning to a few castle maids and started her trek towards the princess's chambers. As she crossed the castle, she noted that the sun has almost completely disappeared from the sky. Nightfall was approaching, bringing with it a blanket of darkness.

"Good evening, princess," Natsuki greeted.

She walked into the dimly-lit room and wondered why the princess didn't use more candles. However, seeing as how it didn't matter since she could still see fine without any trouble, she did not bother to ask.

"So, what do you plan to teach me first? Will I be restraining Natsuki?"

The blue-haired girl released a light chuckle from her throat before answering, "Balance. The first thing you need to do is learn how to balance."

"Ara? But – "

"What did I say about whining?" the squire quirked at eyebrow at the brunette.

"No whining?"

"Exactly. So balance is the first thing you will learn," Natsuki continued. She gave Shizuru a quick shove at the shoulders again, watching as the brunette stumbled back three to four steps before regaining her balance. "See? For something like that, you should only need to take one step back, if that. Don't believe me? Try pushing me."

The crimson-eyed girl moved forward and pushed on Natsuki's left shoulder. The blue-haired girl did not even have to take a step back. All she did was twist her body in the direction that she was shoved.

"See? Now try pushing both my shoulders at the same time," she said.

Shizuru did as she was told, but Natsuki did not stumble one bit. All the squire did was take one step back.

"See?" Natsuki spoke again, staying in the same position. She pointed to the foot that stepped back. "Balance. When I was pushed, I immediately placed this foot back and placed most of my weight on the toes. If I was shoved harder, I would try to bend my knee, but if I can't then I'll probably need to take another step back. The whole point of balance is so that no matter what position your body is in, you still have total control of it."

"I see... so will Natsuki be pushing me all night for this exercise?"

The blue-haired squire grinned, "No, I have a better idea. Have you ever felt dizzy?"

"Ara? Dizzy? Sometimes, when I get sick. Why?"

"If you spin around really fast and then suddenly stop, you get dizzy and your body loses its innate ability to balance you, so you have to balance yourself. Try it."

"How do I – "

She was cut off when Natsuki guided her to spin herself around in circles. When Natsuki felt that Shizuru has spun enough, she told the princess that she could stop and stepped back to watch how the princess will handle herself. She stumbled a bit, usually catching herself somewhere between 3 to 5 steps. Her arms moved about to help her steady herself, but her feet were usually sloppily placed onto the ground.

A light thump told the blunette that the princess has fallen to the floor, but she wasn't worried as the ground was covered with a soft rug. She walked over to brunette, standing barely 2 centimeters from her feet and chuckled at the fallen girl.

"The first rule of balance, princess, is to never lose it," the squire said.

Shizuru responded to this comment by kicking Natsuki's foot from out under her. Not expecting this and not realizing until it was too late, Natsuki stumbled slightly and tried to catch herself, but failed. She let her body fall forward, but as soon as she realized that the princess was laying where she would land, she caught herself on her hands and knees. Her face was only centimeters away from the princess's as she caught her breath.

"The first rule of balance, Natsuki, is to never lose it," the princess said, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

"Indeed it is," the blue-haired girl breathlessly replied.

Natsuki couldn't think straight. Hell, she couldn't think at all. The only thing that was coursing through her brain at the moment was that the princess was laying under her. And that the brunette's lips were only centimeters away from her own. Those taunting lips, slightly parted, letting Natsuki feel light puffs of air hitting her skin. If she lowered herself slightly, she would be able to feel those soft lips against hers. If she lowered herself just a little bit...

* * *

**Omake: Requesting self-defense lessons... age 8 (Shizuru's POV)**

"Daddy, that's the sixth time this month someone has attempted to abduct and/or kill me," Shizuru stated. "Please let me learn self-defense."

"Nonsense! You are a princess. Fighting is for men. Besides, that's what you have royal guards for," her father replied.

"And where were those royal guards today when some crazed men tried to throw me into a box and take me to who knows where?"

"My answer is still no. I love you Shizuru, but you sometimes ask for the impossible."

"Daddy, it's not impossible. Just te-"

"That's enough, dear. Daddy has a lot of work to do. Go play outside with Miss Maria now," he said, dismissing her as he resumed to look through mountains of papers.

Huffing slightly to herself, the eight year old child left her father's room and wandered through the castle grounds. She noticed a number of a pages crowded together and found herself walking towards the commotion. None of the boys seemed to have noticed her as she peeked from behind them. They were all too focused on the two main boys who circled each other inside a haphazardly drawn circle on the ground.

One of them had black hair with olive-colored eyes. He held a deep frown across his lips as his eyes narrowed dangerously at his opponent. The other boy had messy red hair with hazel-colored eyes. He held a defiant smirk as his eyes taunted the black-haired boy.

"Yeah! Go Takeda! Kick that pansy's ass!" some yelled.

"Woo! Takeda, teach that runt not to mess with you!" another cried.

"Go Takeda! Beat him to the ground. No mercy!"

The cries of encouragement for this Takeda was overwhelmi ng, while his opponent only received insults. Shizuru continued to watch with interest. So this was a duel among pages? Was this even official? Somehow, the young girl doubted it, but that did not deter her interest one bit.

"When I am done with you, Jiro, you will wish you never crossed me," the black-haired boy seethed.

"Pft! As if I'll lose to the likes of you! You're nothing but a loser, Takeda," the redhead scoffed.

Fists were balled up tightly and punches were thrown. Soon enough, both opponents ended up on the ground, rolling around and trying to stay on top for dominance. The one Shizuru presumed to be Takeda was winning. He straddled his opponent to stay on top and punched his face repeatedly.

"Don't. You. Ever. Talk. Bad. About. My. Dad. Again."

With each word was a punch to the face to emphasize his point. When the black-haired boy stopped to catch his breath, the redhead pushed him off, freeing himself as he stood up. Swiftly, he grab a knife that was hidden behind his waist and swiped it at Takeda, who only barely dodged the fatal attack. Shizuru watched as a line of red formed about two centimeters under his left eye.

Bringing his hand up, Takeda wiped the blood away and growled at the boy, "Can't beat me in a fair fight so you pull your dirty tricks?"

The redhead just continued to smirk. Instead of replying, he lunged at his opponent again, and swiped again, landing another scar on the black-haired boy. Though this one was shorter and not as deep, it landed on top of the first one, crossing over it to form the shape of an 'x'.

At this, the boys closest to Jiro jumped out to restrain him, forcing the weapon out of his hand and shoving him away from Takeda. After Jiro decided to leave it at that, due to the many threats of the other pages, they all went over to see if the injured page was alright.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here," someone said to her.

"Ara?" the princess replied. She had been invisible the whole time that it caught her by surprise when someone noticed her.

"You're a girl. You're not supposed to be here," another page said.

"Yeah. Teacher said this arena is for fighting only. Girls aren't allowed here."

"Ara, then why can't some of you teach me to fight then?"

All of the pages burst out laughing. Anger bubbled inside the princess as she watched them laugh at her statement, as if it was the most ridiculous thing anyone has ever said.

"Alright, stop laughing guys!" a voice yelled through. Takeda walked through the crowd and stopped in front of the crimson-eyed girl. "I apologize in their place for laughing at you, but I do think that it's pretty ridiculous for a girl to learn how to fight. Fighting is a manly thing. It's not something girls should be doing. If you need to fight, just call one of us. We'll be your champion."

A bell sounded through in the distance, catching the attention of all the pages.

"We have to go now," Takeda said and rushed back into a building, followed by all his friends.

Shizuru stood there, silently seething to herself as cruel laughter and bigoted words rang through her eardrums.

_It's pretty ridiculous for a girl to learn to fight... fighting is a manly thing... it's not something girls should be doing..._

* * *

Woot! I am teh (that is not a typo... I really meant to type "teh") awesome, aren't I? Two fight scenes in one chapter. :D

As always, please _**review**_! I will not lie. The more reviews I get, the faster I will update. XP


	7. Squire Days, Part 2

**Disclaimer**: Do not own... obviously

**A/N**: Sorry for the long wait. Life, laziness, and writer's block got in the way. Anyway, I am back now... and I hope to be staying. So come back readers! COME BACK!

**A/N2**: I am concurrently writing other stuff now too. I'm in the middle of writing that sequel to Torn (a Harry Potter oneshot). I'm also working on Nanoha fluff shorts, titled "A Series of Cavity Inducing Fluff". It's supposed to be all fluffy and sweet shorts, but fluffy and sweet are a lot harder than I thought... so maybe I'll end up making some of them just bittersweet. Who knows. Check it out and leave some prompts for me if you like MGLN series. :D

**A/N3**: Remember how I said in the last chapter that I was going to include omake's at the end of every chapter to show Shizuru's POV in things? Well, I lied. I'll do it sometimes, but not all the time.

**Final announcement**: **EVERYONE IN THE STORY**, EXCEPT SAEKO, **THINKS THAT NATSUKI IS A BOY!**

* * *

Chapter 7: Squire Days, Part 2

* * *

Natsuki_ couldn't think straight. Hell, she couldn't think at all. The only thing that was coursing through her brain at the moment was that the princess was laying under her. And that the brunette's lips were only centimeters away from her own. Those taunting lips, slightly parted, letting Natsuki feel light puffs of air hitting her skin. If she lowered herself slightly, she would be able to feel those soft lips against hers. If she lowered herself just a little bit..._

"_What __we__re you thinking?_" Natsuki chided herself mentally as she scrambled to get up.

She peered down at the dazed princess and decided to capture the girl's attention by clearing her throat. Then, when the princess finally snapped out of her thoughts, Natsuki extended her right arm towards the older girl to help her up. "My deepest apologies, princess."

"A-Ara. There's no need to apologize. I was the one who made Natsuki lose his balance to begin with," she replied as she accepted the squire's help to stand.

"Regardless, I should have been able to avoid..." the blue-haired squire turned her head slightly to the side as she faked a cough. "To avoid that position."

Shizuru gave a small giggle after seeing Natsuki blush. "Don't worry about the small things, Natsuki. Now, about this balancing lesson..."

"A-Ah! Right!" Natsuki began, immediately grasping the topic. "Well, it doesn't seem like my method is going to work. I do apologize, princess. I've never taught anyone self-defense before, so there's going to be a bit of trial and error in learning how to teach in itself."

"Ara, how did Natsuki learn balance then?" the princess inquired, moving to take a seat on her bed.

Natsuki followed the princess, but opted to sit on the floor opposite of her. "Well, it was a really long time ago, during my early page days if memory serves right. Or even before that. I'm not sure. As far as I can remember, I've never had special training for it."

Silence ensued as Natsuki raked her brain to remember how she learned all the basics which come so naturally to her now. Her brows furrowed together as she stared at the ground, concentrating hard. "Oh! I know! Why didn't I think of this before? We should create an exercise routine for you that will simultaneously train your body in strength, endurance, and balance."

"Strength?" Shizuru asked.

"Strength, so that when you strike the enemy, it is effective. Endurance, so that you can outlast your enemy in long fights. And balance - well, I already explained that one."

"Ara, I think Natsuki will been disappointed when he finds out just how little strength I have," the princess replied.

"It doesn't matter how much strength you have now. Set yourself a goal, and aim for it," Natsuki said. "We can test your arm strength with a simple exercise called push-ups."

"Push...up?"

"I'll show you."

The squire maneuvered her body so that she laid on her tummy. She placed her hands flat onto the floor and raised herself off of the ground. Then lowered herself again until her arms were bent at ninety degrees. "That is considered one push-up."

Then, she raised herself again before lowering to bend her arms at ninety degrees. "And that's two."

"Ara, I see..." Shizuru replied. "So how many of these push-ups can Natsuki do?"

Moving back to the sitting position she was before the demonstration, Natsuki replied, "As a squire, I am required to be able to do at least thirty-five. At the moment, I can do fifty."

"How many does Natsuki think he'll be able to do if I sat on his back?"

The emerald-eyed girl couldn't help but chuckle. "I have no idea. Somewhere between ten to fifteen, maybe?"

"I'd like to test that," Shizuru replied as she stood up.

"Y-You're not serious... are you?" Natsuki asked, faltering a little.

The princess gave the knight-to-be a charming smile before answering, "I'm very serious, Natsuki. Is he not up for the challenge?"

Natsuki narrowed her eyes at the princess, and was about to accept it until she realized what accepting it would actually entail. The brunette balancing on her back as she elevated and de-elevated herself as many times as she could. Judging by the Shizuru's current level of balance, there was a high probability of something going awry. And that was definitely something she wanted to avoid.

Taking a deep breath to swallow her pride at having to decline a challenge, Natsuki stood from her seat. "Actually, I think it's time I return to my chambers. It has gotten late, princess, and I must be up at dawn to wait by your door."

"Ara, dawn?"

"Yes, princess. I wake at dawn every morning."

"I see. Then I shall see Natsuki tomorrow. Good night and rest well."

"Thank you. Good night to you as well. And pleasant dreams," the squire said before exiting the princess's chambers.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Natsuki crossed her arms as she leaned against a tree, observing her brunette pupil as she balanced herself, walking back and forth, on a tree log. She smiled as the woman seemed to glide, more than waddle, through the task. It had been a rough few weeks since they started this training, but Shizuru was a fast-learner. She didn't have many issues grasping how to move her body and her center of gravity, which resulted in her rapid learning pace for balance. However, strength and endurance were things that the body had to build by repeating exhaustive tasks over and over again.

The initial training to give Shizuru the strength and endurance she needed was brutal, and Natsuki did nothing to sugarcoat the process. If the princess wanted to learn self-defense, then the princess will have to suffer the consequences of her decision. It impressed Natsuki greatly that the brunette always followed her regimen without complaint, even when she looked like she was about to keel over and collapse. And because of this, the blue-haired squire realized how much this meant to her.

"Impressive, princess. When we first started, you could barely walk on a tree log double that size, but now you balance on one that has a diameter of barely six inches as if you are dancing," Natsuki finally spoke after Shizuru stopped to stare at her for an assessment.

"Ara. Thank you, Natsuki. You are a wonderful teacher," replied Shizuru.

"You've passed the most basic physical training, but make no mistake. You must continue to train yourself in strength, endurance, and balance. No matter how good you are, you can always be better."

"Does this mean that I can learn how to hit people now?" the princess replied excitedly.

"Self-defense isn't a brawl. You don't need to hit the other person to successfully defend yourself. Though, I do admit that sometimes the situation does warrant it," the blue-haired squire replied. "I think we should work on your reflexes next, see how well you can dodge things."

"Ara, dodging?" Shizuru asked, disappointment clear as day in her eyes.

"Dodging," Natsuki repeated firmly. "And maybe after that, we'll start on hand-to-hand combat. I have to make sure you can dodge, since you're only sparring partner is me, and I'm fairly fast with my punches."

The princess's demeanor brightened considerably. "When do we start?"

The blunette made a small humming sound as she looked up at the sky. "I have to meet with Sir Sayers soon for my own training, so tomorrow seems to be best. Shall I walk you back to your chambers then?"

"Ara, that would be most appreciated, Natsuki-kun."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You have done well, Natsuki," Sir Sayers said at the end of Natsuki's training. "You've improved a lot in the few weeks under my guidance. You don't leave yourself open as much as you did before, and you are getting better at deciding tactics during battle. And most importantly, I've noticed that your speed is increasing. That is your strength, Natsuki. You must hone it well."

"Thank you, sir. I have learned a lot under your guidance. Reito and I have sparred a few times over the past weeks and it greatly helped when he exploited some weaknesses of mine. It makes it easier for me to identify what they are, and therefore correct them," she replied.

"That is what I like about you, Natsuki. You understand that there are matches that can be lost without shame and you turn that lost into a learning experience. Not many people understand it, but you - you understand it at such a young age. Sir Akio would be proud of you," he smiled.

"Thank you, sir," the blue-haired squire smiled ruefully. _Father, I always take your lessons to heart, and I will probably always turn to you for advice. Watch over me, Father, and I will succeed in your name. _

"So," the knight interrupted Natsuki's thought. "Dinner time."

"Yes, sir."

The pair returned to the castle and dined as they usually did: with Natsuki eating next to Sir Sayers, rather than standing by his side to tend to his every beck and call. Natsuki grabbed herself a goblet of water after pouring Sir Sayers some red wine.

"I'm going to be gone again for a few weeks," the knight said as they started eating. "There seems to have been a small misunderstanding with a neighboring country and His Majesty has assigned me the task of settling this peacefully."

"Has His Majesty mentioned if I should be in attendance?" the squire asked.

"I recommended that you stay behind and continue to guard the princess. From what I understand of the situation, they are a little on edge at the moment. I fear that bringing you along might send them the wrong message."

"Wrong message?" Natsuki asked. "What kind of wrong message?"

"Going alone implies that I will be at their mercy, so they will understand that we mean no harm; that we are there to make peace, not threats. If you and I go, what they will see is two knights. Not one knight and one squire, but two knights. And two knights walking into that country for peace negotiations imply that we have many knights to spare, so even if negotiations go awry, we will still be the victors in the end."

"That barely makes any sense. I have been to peace negotiations with you before and I didn't sense that the other party felt threatened by us."

"Do you know who the controlling nations are right now?"

"The Country of Aries, the Country of Cardair, and us, the Country of Windbloom."

"And are you aware of Cardair's history?"

"Not really. I just know a little bit from my studies. They only recently became one of the controlling nations, and they achieved that through the bloodbath of war. They slowly occupied the smaller countries surrounding their borders, and basically swallowed as much land on the map as they could. They only stopped where they did because transporting resources during wartime is a tedious task that requires more manpower than they could afford at the time."

"Exactly. So, can you conclude why both of us going might not be a good idea?"

Realization slowly dawned onto the young squire as her eyes filled with comprehension. "Because if they feel that we are a threat as they try to stabilize their country after the long war, Windbloom and Cardair might enter into a bloodbath. And since they are new to being a power nation and obtained their status through a less than savory method, they are quick to think that other countries will judge them and try to remove them from power. Most notably, since Windbloom and Aries are both countries which have been power nations for centuries, they think we are the biggest threats. In order words, they're twitchy."

_I hate politics, _Natsuki thought.

"Exactly," the knight beamed. "I leave tomorrow. Don't worry about seeing me off. Just go about your day as usual and try to train on your own."

"Yes sir," Natsuki replied.

"And while I'm gone, study a little more history on Aries and Cardair. It is good to know the history and culture of the countries which you seek peace with, especially if said countries are your neighbors."

"Yes sir."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

In the first week that Sir Sayers was missing, Natsuki managed to successfully test Shizuru's reflex skills. At first, Natsuki simply threw things at Shizuru that moved relatively slow and wouldn't hurt even if it hit her. But she rapidly realized that she was under-estimating the brunette when it came to moving her body. Shizuru was able to dodge the beginner objects with ease during her first test, which encouraged the squire to increase the level of difficulty. To the point where Natsuki herself would be throwing punches for Shizuru to dodge.

Objects only worked until a certain point. After that, it was just too dangerous of a risk. At least, with Natsuki throwing the punches, she can control the speed, and stop immediately if the brunette failed to catch it.

"You are doing well, princess," Natsuki said as she brought her hands back to her side. "I didn't land a single hit on you."

"Ara, that's because Natsuki-kun went easy on me," smiled Shizuru.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself and hurt you."

"It'll be alright, Natsuki. I want you to increase the difficulty to the next level."

"Are you sure?"

"I like challenges, and I trust that if Natsuki foresees my getting hurt, he will do everything he can to lessen the blow."

The blue-haired squire gave an uncertain sigh, but decided to comply with the Shizuru's wishes. "Ok, stand ready."

Natsuki watched as Shizuru took a deep breath before bending her knees very slightly. She watched the other girl's eyes focus on her, and then began unleashing a series of punches. This time, the punches were only slightly faster, but she directed them at more inconvenient locations, causing the brunette to have to constantly shift her balance and readjust her body. Shizuru dodged them all and was keeping up with the pace rather well, considering how much energy she's spent already. In one swift move, Natsuki unleashed a series of three punches before ducking onto the ground and executed a low roundhouse kick, successfully swiping Shizuru's balance away. When the squire realized that Shizuru failed to dodge her last attack, she lunged forward and managed to catch the princess mid-fall, holding the girl around the shoulders using one arm with the help of her elbow propped onto her knee for support.

"My deepest apologies, princess," Natsuki said as she pulled them both into an upright position. "Are you hurt?"

"Ara," Shizuru replied, breathless. "No. Thank you, Natsuki, for catching me."

A long moment passed by before Natsuki realized that she was still holding onto the princess. And the only reason she even noticed was because Shizuru decided to rest her head on the squire's shoulder. Her face flushed as she stepped back, immediately releasing her hold from the other girl.

"I-I'm sorry, princess."

"Ara, there is no reason for you to be apologizing. Natsuki-kun saved me from a very nasty fall," the brunette replied. Then a small glint entered her eyes as she adopted a faux-hurt tone. "Or is Natsuki-kun apologizing because he ripped himself away from me when I was just starting to feel safe and warm after that near-fatal fall?"

Natsuki's face was tinged slightly darker than it was before. The blue-haired girl kept her eyes on the princess. She knew the other girl was a tease. And she knew this was an occasion in which the brunette was teasing her. So why was it that her words could cause her to want to close the distance immediately and hold the princess for as long as she wanted.

She knew she was being teased. And she knew that Shizuru didn't really mean it, so why? Why did she take a step forward and wrap the princess into her arms, looking to the side in embarrassment as she did so? She heard herself mumble words, but even she didn't really know what was escaping from her lips.

"Only for a minute," she realized after a little recounting. "Then, I'll walk you back to your chambers and return to my room to study."

* * *

I apologise again for the late update. I skimmed through my previous chapters before posting this, but I worry that there may be inconsistencies due to my year-long stasis. If anyone finds anything, please let me know so that I can promptly correct it! XD

The pace of the story is picking up, mostly because I decided it was boring to write all the background stuff. So, exciting things are going to start happening and explanations will be given on a need-to-know basis, it seems. ^-^;

Anyway, as per usual, please review and leave some feedback! :)


	8. Squire Days, Part 3

**Disclaimer**: Do not own... obviously

**A/N**: I said to myself that I was going to update this within a month of the last update, and boy did I cut it close! Well, the same goal will apply for the next update. I'm going to ATTEMPT to update this on a monthly schedule.

**A/N2**: I finished writing that sequel to Torn! And it was posted sometime last week. You should totally check it out because it took me a while to get that finished. And depending on how you see things, the story has finally concluded Torn or just started to be something of it's own. It's called "Torn Again?". Go! R&R!

**Final announcement**: **EVERYONE IN THE STORY**, EXCEPT SAEKO, **THINKS THAT NATSUKI IS A BOY!**

* * *

Chapter 8: Squire Days, Part 3

* * *

A small sigh escaped Natsuki as she lowered the book she was reading onto her face, allowing its pages to shield her eyes from the sunlight. She relaxed both of her arms by letting them hang limply from at her sides as she shifted lightly, hoping to get into a more comfortable position. As she laid there, she contemplated on the passages that she recently read regarding the way Cardair's government functioned.

It wasn't very different from their own, except for a few small differences in regards to what a certain position is allowed to do and not allowed to do. It seems they are very strict when it comes to tradition. Most of the laws currently in place are laws that were created hundreds of years ago, without alterations or amendments. And some of those laws, Natsuki found, were slightly distasteful.

"Ara," a familiar voice caught her attention. "Why is Natsuki-kun sleeping on a tree branch?"

Jolting from her position, Natsuki caught her book just in time as it fell off of her face. Changing her position to a upright one, Natsuki peered down to find a look of amusement on the princess's face.

"I'm studying, princess," Natsuki replied.

"Lying down with a book on your face a few feet off the ground?"

"I think better when I am not confined to a desk. I've heard complaints from other pages who seem to think I slack but miraculously pass with the best grades, so I'm aware that from another person's point of view, I am relaxing."

"Ara, I see. What is Natsuki studying then?"

"Cardair's government. Mostly just reading up on tradition and laws, it seems," the blunette replied as she pushed herself off of the branch, and landed a few feet away from the princess. "It's actually kind of boring."

"I think it's fascinating," Shizuru replied. "All the different views of life and different codes of conduct that other people abide by. The differences in culture and mindset that allows a certain type of government advantages over some things but disadvantages over others."

Natsuki stared at the princess. She wanted to inject her own opinion on the subject matter, but decided that it was better left unsaid.

"Cardair's culture doesn't particularly appeal to me in a positive way," the squire replied. "What kind of government specifically creates laws that strip rights from women? I mean, look at this," she continued as she opened her book and started reading from it. "_A woman shall not seek employment without the consent of her husband. In the case that the husband shall consent, the woman must only seek employment from a list of recommendations from her husband. If a woman so chooses to be employed, her wage shall not exceed the wage of her husband. _What kind of law is that?"

"Ara. But Natsuki does realize that it is frowned upon for woman to find employment in Windbloom, does he not?"

"Frowned upon, yes, princess. But there are no laws stating that a woman does not have the right to seek employment without the consent of her husband. And furthermore, there are no laws specifically restricting the wife to have a lower wage than her husband. So while it is culturally strange and unusual, a woman can seek employment without actually breaking a law in Windbloom. Besides, it is frowned upon here because it is the responsibility of the husband to take care of his wife. If his wife seeks employment, it is implied that the husband does not have the ability to take care of her and his family. It is frowned upon not because of the woman, but because of the man's inability to provide. It is a stigma that implies the husband is incompetent."

"What if the wife just wants a few extra coins to buy nicer clothing or fine jewelry? In that case, the husband is able to provide for her adequately. It is only her covetous nature that drives her to seek employment to fulfill her material needs."

"The husband should be able to provide her with whatever she pleases. A man must always be able to provide for the woman whatever she desires. If he cannot provide for her, another man of more wealth shall do so."

"Ara, but you assume this wife is desirable. What if the only man who would marry this woman is the poor man who can only provide food and shelter, while extravagant gifts are something that he will only be able to provide on occasion?"

"I concede to your argument, princess, but we have strayed far from the original topic at hand," the squire said, closing her book.

Shizuru wore a small grin as she cocked her head slightly to the side. "And what might that be, Natsuki-kun?"

"That Cardair has some less than appealing laws, for my taste."

Shizuru hummed her agreement.

"So what were you doing out here, princess?" Natsuki asked, realizing that she didn't know what the princess wanted from her or why she was here in the first place.

"I was just taking a walk. When I noticed you, I decided to come by. I didn't know you were studying, so I do apologize for the interruption."

"No need for apologies, princess. I was about to take a break anyway. I never did like reading about politics and other countries much."

"Ara, I see. Any particular reason why you are reading about Cardair's laws and traditions then?"

"Mm... well, Sir Sayers is there right now, hoping to make peace with them. Before he left, he told me that I should study about our neighboring countries, hence the readings. Which, speaking of, he's been gone for while now, hasn't he?"

"He has," Shizuru nodded.

"Well," Natsuki replied as she placed her book down onto the ground. "I recognize it's a little earlier than our usual sessions, but what do you say we start now?"

"Yes, Natsuki!" the brunette replied excitedly. "I've been practicing my footwork, so you can come at me full speed."

The squire gave a small chuckle at Shizuru's enthusiasm. "Full speed? I'm not so sure you'd want that yet."

"But I want to see how far I've progressed. If I were to enter into a real spar with Natsuki, I want to see how long I would last dodging."

"Well, I guess it might be a good way to grasp that," the blunette replied. "Okay then. But first, we need to do our warm-ups."

The pair started off jogging, building up their heart-rate before slowly letting it decline again as they walked it off. Then came stretches. And then a small warm-up exercise, where Natsuki worked at the same pace she did the day before, allowing Shizuru to re-familiarize herself with the movements of dodging and blocking.

"Okay then, princess. Are you sure you're ready for this?" Natsuki asked again, as she positioned herself for an offense.

"Yes," the brunette replied. "I'm ready."

The squire leapt forward and began unleashing attacks at the speed she normally used when training with Sir Sayers. She moved fast as she threw punches at the other girl and she could tell Shizuru was having trouble keeping up with the speed. The number of times she had to block far outweighed the number of times she was able to successfully dodge. The last punch Natsuki threw would have connected with the princess's left cheek, but she stopped herself just in time before contact was made.

"Ara," the princess breathed as Natsuki slowly moved away from her. "I didn't even see that last punch. Natsuki is indeed very agile."

"For someone who just started training, you didn't do half bad," Natsuki replied.

"How did I do?" the princess asked.

"You lasted 17 strikes."

"All punches..."

"Kicks and swipes become harder to do the faster I go, because my balance shifts from two feet to one and back. So it wasn't that I was going easy on you, princess. I just chose the mode of attack based off of what I think would maximize my speed," Natsuki said with a smile. "Sometimes, I feel you are too hard on yourself. I have had years of training, while you have only started a few months ago. The gap in skill isn't because of anything besides experience, so don't worry too much over that."

"Ara, thank you, Natsuki."

"You're welcome. Let's take five and then resume regular training then."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Welcome back, Sir Sayers," Natsuki greeted her mentor as she watched him dismount from his horse.

"It's good to be back," he replied, swinging a large bag over his shoulder. "Did I miss anything interesting while I was gone?"

Moving to grab the luggage from the knight, Natsuki replied. "Not at all. There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. At least, I haven't noticed anything."

"And the princess? Is she doing well?"

"Very well, sir. She exercises every day, and I accompany her during those times."

"Mm, good. And how are your studies coming along?"

"Very well, sir. I have been reading about Cardair and Aries as you have instructed. More so about Cardair lately, because I know we are trying to make peace with them."

"Good, Kuga. Continue to concentrate your studies about Cardair. The more you know, the better it will be for you."

"Sir? Is something wrong?" Natsuki asked, noticing that the knight seemed tense.

He let out a long sigh before answering. "Negotiations with Cardair are not going smoothly. They are not very cooperative and want to push for more than we are willing to give. I've returned to pass on some messages to His Majesty from Cardair. When His Majesty and his council make a decision on how they want to handle the situation, then I will go back to Cardair to give them an answer."

"Do you not foresee peace, sir?"

"I foresee complications, boy," Sir Sayers said as he stopped in front of his chamber's door. He turned to Natsuki and held his hand out, motioning for the squire to return his luggage. "We'll resume our normal practices tomorrow. For now, I need rest."

"Yes, sir," Natsuki responded before turning around to head towards to her room.

Sleep didn't come easy that night as she contemplated over what her mentor said about how he foresaw complications with Cardair. The negotiations obviously went awry, if Sir Sayer's tiredness was any indication. Natsuki knew, from her readings, that Cardair probably wouldn't be very easy to deal with. They're a twitchy bunch, but they also think that they're unbeatable because of their many victories. It is likely that if Cardair and Windbloom did not reach a consensus soon, blood will be spilt.

However, Windbloom has large and organized armies while Cardair's have only recently started recuperating from their losses in the past wars they've fought. Even if Cardair wanted to, they probably don't have all the means to start a war with us. So maybe we're safe. After all, if they agree to peace with us, it guarantees them that we will not attempt to invade them, at the very least.

Natsuki woke up the next morning with a book beside her. She slowly closed the book and placed it on the night stand next to her bed before moving to start her morning routines. When she went to the dining mess for breakfast, she found no sign of her mentor. Deciding to continue her day as normal, she consumed some bread and water before making her way towards the princess's chambers.

As per usual, she stood outside with the guards and waited for the princess to wake. As she waited, she found herself staring out a window not too far from her position. She watched as birds flew freely in the sky and briefly thought about how wonderful it was to be a bird. To be able to soar through the sky freely, letting the wind hit your face without a worry in the world.

"The princess calls for you," one of the guards said, breaking her out of her reverie.

"Thank you," Natsuki replied as she walked towards the door. The squire entered the room, but stood relatively close to the closed doors. "Good morning, princess."

"Ara, good morning, Natsuki. I heard Sir Sayers was due to return last night. Did you see him? Do you know if he is doing well?" she asked.

"I did, princess. And he is doing well. Thank you for asking."

"So what is upsetting you?"

Natsuki faltered for a bit, taken aback by the question. "E-Excuse me, princess?"

"What's bothering you?" the brunette repeated as she motioned for the squire to have a seat.

"What makes you think something is bothering me?" Natsuki replied, still rooted to her spot by the doors.

Shizuru smiled before answering. "Women's intuition, I suppose? The air around you is gloomy. So tell me, what is bothering my knight-to-be?"

"It's not really... It's nothing, really..." Natsuki tried.

"Mhm," the princess replied. "That's a good start, but let's try it again with the truth this time."

Natsuki sighed as she advanced into the room, taking the seat which Shizuru motioned to earlier. "Cardair."

"Ara? Cardair?"

"Yes."

"Can you explain?"

"Sir Sayers came back last night from his long trip in Cardair. As you know, Sir Sayers went because of peace negotiations, but last night he told me that the negotiations are not going well. The people of Cardair seem to want to bite off more than they can chew from us. And I can imagine that we wouldn't be too happy about that either."

"You worry about impending war, then?"

"You think there'll be a war?"

"I think the chances of war are greater than chances of peace with Cardair, especially if what you say is true."

"Why?"

"Ara?" Shizuru asked as she looked up. "Is it not obvious?"

"No - yes - I mean. I can see why you think there will be war, but how can you deduce that the chances of war are higher than peace? You can't know that for sure," the squire replied.

"No, I suppose it is true that one can never predict the future. My deduction was based entirely off of history and culture. Generally speaking, Cardair usually wants all or nothing, so I imagined that they might be pushing the bounds quite a bit with the negotiations. Now, Windbloom is a peace country. If we can avoid war, we tend to, but we also do not back down from those who try to take advantage of our lack of bloodthirst. If Cardair does not back down and insist that we give them more power and more freedom to our land than we wish to give, things will get messy. It will be one of two scenarios. One, they decide that negotiations are a waste of their time because we keep saying no to what they want. They will, therefore, take what they want by force. War. Two, we will get tired of their high demands and cease negotiations with them. Seeing that we are no longer attempting peace with them, they will raise their war flags once again to try to take what they could not from negotiations. It might be a few months. It might be a few years. But I think it'll happen eventually."

"How are you sure? What about the scenario where Windbloom cease negotiations but Cardair does not attack because they know that we have full armies, unlike the little tidbits of land they conquered over the years?"

"Natsuki, if i told you that I will give you a new sword if you can do more than fifty push-ups, what would you do? And let's assume that you really want this sword. Will you do the push-ups to try and win the sword, or would you retreat?"

"I guess I would do the push-ups," the squire answered, a little confused. "I don't see where you're going with this."

"Have you noticed that Cardair doesn't care how many soldiers they send to die? They like war and expansion. If they come to conquer us, even if they fail, they don't lose. They still have every bit of land that they used to own, and maybe a little more where our borders connect. But if we fail, we lose everything. Do you see? They have nothing to lose, while we have everything to lose. As with the sword analogy, you have nothing to lose, so you will do the push-ups to see if maybe you can win."

"Your theories are flawed. They're sound, but flawed. You neglected other factors like Cardair's economy. Will Cardair even be able to supply their armies with the equipment needed for war? And population. You pointed out that they do not care how many people they send to die, but there are only so many people that they can send to die."

"Ara, Natsuki does not have to believe me, but he should keep this conversation in mind. A few years from now, when this situation is settled, we can look back to this time and know that one of us was right," Shizuru said with a small twinkle in her eyes.

"If you think we are going to war, how can you be so calm about it? Why don't you try to devise a way so that we don't go to war?"

"Ara, I am not allowed to intervene in political affairs, Natsuki. I was sure you knew this," she replied with a small questioning gaze. "Was I wrong?"

The blue-haired squire realized her blunder and apologised immediately. "I'm sorry, princess. I did know that. It just didn't occur to me at the time as I was so absorbed in the discussion."

"I see," the princess replied.

Guilt ate away at Natsuki as she internally scolded herself. And then a thought occurred to her that she wanted to smack herself for not noticing earlier. "Princess, how did you know all of that information considering that you aren't allowed to intervene with political affairs? I mean, I'm sure you had someone teach you how to read and write, but who taught you politics?"

A fleeting look of surprise crossed Shizuru's face before she answered. "Ara, books. Books taught me about politics. Once I was taught how to read, I would occasionally sneak off to the library and read for a few hours at a time. After all, what's a girl supposed to do when she's bored of the same routine activities offered in the castle."

"Oh," Nasuki replied, speechless.

"Now then," the princess announced as she stood up. "Shall we go on a walk and proceed to some exercise?"

"Of course, princess," the squire replied as she followed suit.

* * *

This has only been given a once-over in the proofreading process, so mistakes are imminent. If you see any, please feel free to let me know!

Thanks for reading! Please read and review!

Now, time for that other one. *_Jogs off to write "Entangled".*_


End file.
